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Commentary
International Relations and Security Network

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO): Rebirth and Regeneration?

Will the decisions made at the recent Dushanbe Summit help deepen the military and security capabilities of SCO members? Richard Weitz has his doubts. This supposedly formidable collection of states has limited resources, obvious internal divisions, and s

Senior Fellow and Director, Center for Political-Military Analysis

Members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) like to boast that their organization is special. The Chinese, for example, refer to the SCO’s “Shanghai Spirit” and the “mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for diversified civilizations and pursuit of common development” that it has created. Russian officials like to contrast the organization with NATO and other US-led alliances. As Moscow sees it, the SCO is neither anti-Western nor anyone else, and does not try to force its members into adhering to common political or economic values. Yet despite being one of the largest regional organizations in the world, with an equally sprawling agenda of security, economic and geopolitical concerns, the SCO has lost momentum over the past few years, and even disappointed its partners with its lack of achievements.

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