Notions of Neutralities

Reviews / Votes

The book demonstrates convincingly that the notion of neutrality only as a phenomenon and a part of the Cold War is false in many ways. The concept of neutrality has proven time and again that it can adapt to new situations. Neutrality was never monolithic but rather a fluid and flexible concept. This book captures a wide spectrum of neutrality. It stretches from a passive and isolationist stance at one end, to an engaged and interventionist approach at the other. Neutrality in the twenty-first century does not mean to stay out but to engage. It is not about disengagement from world affairs. It is about active engagement in the international systems, and involvement in diplomacy, politics, economics, and humanitarian aspects; neutral states participate in crisis-management operations and conflict avoidance around the globe. -- Heinz Gaertner, University of Vienna The concept of neutrality has been around for more than 500 years in international diplomatic circles. Switzerland may be the world's most famous - and one of the few widely known - examples of state neutrality. Yet, the actual meaning and practical implications of neutrality, both historically and in the international politics of the 21st Century, are poorly understood by most policy makers and rarely examined by serious international relations scholars. This superb, newly edited volume from Pascal Lottaz and Herbert R. Reginbogin makes a major contribution toward filling this gap and is a must-read for all serious students and practioners of international relations today. -- Bruce M. Bagley, University of Miami As Thucydides tells us, for the Melians, neutrality was the way of the weak; for Elie Wiesel it is the refuge of the immoral. In examining this topic through a modern lens, this book admirably resurrects the concept of neutrality, a branch of international relations and international law, one that has fallen into the recesses of the American intellectual mind. The book's chapters together trace the varied intellectual doctrines of neutrality in the development of international law. The 13 essays include papers on maritime neutrality, Nordic conceptions of neutrality, Dutch conceptions of neutrality, the experience of Japan and the Soviet Union as 'neutrals,' the Vatican as neutral, the non-aligned movement, and the experience of the Board of International Settlement (BIS) during World War II.

Reginbogin, Lottaz, and their colleagues show how the concept of neutrality can be used to advance both collective security and cultural human rights norms. It is a book that should find its place on international relations, history, international law, and social ethics bookshelves. -- Marshall J. Breger, The Catholic University of America