Treaty-based architecture of the pan-European collective security system: a structural aspect

Abstract

Background. Current transformations in the pan-European security environment, driven by growing military and political tensions as well as systemic crises, necessitate a comprehensive reassessment of how the existing treaty-based architecture of the pan-European collective security system operates. This study aims to develop a comprehensive understanding of the security architecture's structure, its constituent elements as well as operating principles, thereby enabling an assessment of its effectiveness, relevance, and efficiency under current security challenges. A decisive factor in the transformation of the pan-European security environment has been the large-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation, which has significantly affected the configuration of regional security, exacerbating instability and intensifying contradictions between the main actors.
Methods. The study employs comparative and analytical methods, together with systemic and historical approaches.
Results. It has been established that the security architecture's structure constitutes a two-dimensional model combining level-based and component-based elements. The level-based dimension reflects the institutional aspect of the security architecture's operation and is implemented at both regional and global levels. The component-based dimension encompasses a set of core structural elements of the security architecture, namely actors, objects, political norms, and the treaty-based instrumentarium. It has been determined that the treaty-based instrumentarium of the security architecture comprises a set of measures, instruments, and mechanisms that interact in a systematic manner. It has been demonstrated that these measures, instruments, and mechanisms form a hierarchical internal structure of the treaty-based instrumentarium, wherein measures constitute components of instruments, and instruments, in turn, are components of mechanisms. It has been substantiated that the obtained results make it possible to develop a coherent scientific understanding of the structural model of the security architecture and the specific features of its operation under the current security environment.
Conclusions. The assessment of the security architecture's structure has contributed to scholarly understanding of the specific features of its operation under current security environment and has laid a foundation for further research. At the same time, the results of this study provide grounds for concluding the complexity and measurability of the security architecture's structure. Promising areas for future research include the examination of the terminological aspect, in particular the clarification and systematization of concepts related to the security architecture, as well as the study of their interrelations within the relevant conceptual and categorical framework.