With hindsight one can happily acknowledge that this linkage has been successful. The commitments regarding the human dimension in the Final Act proved to be an enormous support to the moral mobilisation of dissidents in Central and Eastern Europe thereby supporting the ideological undermining of communism. At present we have moved beyond this ambiguity. Unlike during the early years of the csce, there is now a realistic consensus about the contents of matters belonging to the human dimension, such as the rule of law, democracy etc. These are matters whose universal value has been recognized.
Some views go even further.
However, it is doubtful whether they can be justified in either historical or present terms. Were such the case a truly new Europe would exist, one in which Eastern Europe, in particular, would have broken with the past. However, clearly this is not the case. Dr. Bloed notes with some disagreement that one could argue that the human dimension of the osce should be abolished and that other organisations, such as the Council of Europe, should deal with these matters. He ultimately rejects this idea because the osce system functions in a fundamentally different manner than the Council of Europe.