The OSCE engaged in four of the Central Asian former Soviet Republics: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan; the fifth, Tajikistan, experienced violence after the breakup of the USSR and thus is not treated in this chapter. The OSCE missions in the four republics focused on democracy-building and in many cases preventing democratic backsliding, while supporting economic development, protection of human rights, media reform, and after 2001 potential threats of terrorism. The titular majorities in all four countries often discriminated against other ethnic minorities, as the state borders frequently did not coincide with the ethnic identity of the population; in several cases, this led to short-term outbreaks of violence, although large-scale, long-term violence was generally contained. While OSCE efforts contributed to preventing the outbreak of major violent conflict, slow progress in democratization, respect for human rights, and economic development prevented it from realizing its major goals in structural conflict prevention.