Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO): Tackling the Three Evils

A Regional Response to Non-Traditional Security Challenges or an Anti-Western Bloc?

Author(s): Stephen Aris
Journal Title: Europe-Asia Studies
Volume: 61
Issue: 3
Pages: 457-482
Publisher(s): Routledge
Publication Year: 2009

This article examines how, despite the initial scepticism about its viability, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) has become the primary security organization in Central Asia. Two major factors are identified. Firstly, the focus of the SCO on tackling the so-called three evils (terrorism, extremism, separatism) has won it favour with the prevailing leaderships of its member states. Secondly, the specific organizational framework adopted is appropriate for the region. The article concludes that the SCO is best characterized as a regional organization concerned with non-traditional security and not as a hostile new Warsaw Pact as suggested by some.

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