Szanghajska Organizacja Współpracy - perspektywy rozwoju i instytucje SzOW w erze Inicjatywy Pasa i Drogi ; Shanghai Cooperation Organisation – development prospects and institutions of the SCO in the era of the Belt and Road Initiative
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) was established in 1996 as a joint response from China, Russia and the three Central Asian republics to growing threats to international security in the Central Asia region. Over the next two decades, the SCO has not only become an important guarantor of security and inter-state dialogue in the region but has also created a number of internal institutions specializing in, i.a. economic and energy cooperation. From the very beginning of its existence, China was its main patron and a strong supporter of tightening cooperation and expanding the organization to include more member states. China was also the author of the SCO rhetoric regarding the New Silk Road, which since 2013 has also become the leitmotif of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) established by China to develop economic cooperation with Asian and European countries. The main research issue of this paper is an answer to the question of how SCO has changed under the influence of the BRI. This problem will be analysed through two lenses: how has the Belt and Path Initiative influenced the direction of SCO development? And what effect does the rhetoric of the Silk Road have on international assessment of the SCO activities?
