Mutual trust without a strong collective identity? Examining the Shanghai cooperation organization as a nascent security community

ABSTRACT It has long been assumed that security communities form in the international system based on at least two criteria, having a strong collective identity and mutual trust among their members. Security is gleaned through mutual trust, while community coalesces around a strong collective identity and shared values. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization exhibits traits of a security community, where its structure is designed to institutionalize mutual trust, but the organization lacks a cohesive collective identity, especially since the inclusion of India and Pakistan into the organization, which has caused a weakening in the Russia-China driven identity within the intergovernmental organization. This paper examines how the SCO can function as a security community, arguing that a strong collective identity is only a sufficient condition for the establishment of a security community, mutual trust being the only ingredient necessary for a security community to form.