What sort of neutrality?

Although an internationally recognised law of neutrality has existed since 1907, this law lays down only a few scant principles governing the rights and duties of neutral parties during war. The principle of neutrality developed from this law and has been applied autonomously by every neutral country in war and peace in order to lend credibility to national neutrality. This principle is often more overt than the law on neutrality. The various flavours of neutrality include ‘perpetual’ neutrality, as practised in Switzerland for 400 years, and ‘occasional’ neutrality, which arises only in one specific war and is applied by virtually all countries in virtually all wars. Neutrality can be armed (Switzerland, Austria) or unarmed (Costa Rica); it can be recognised by international law (Switzerland, Austria) or adopted by the country in question but not recognised by international law (Ireland).

But even the perpetual, armed neutrality practised by Switzerland and recognised by international law (since 1815) has changed. Prior to the First World War, neutrality had exclusively military connotations. During the First World War, both sides waged a merciless economic war where even neutral parties found themselves dragged in against their will. Switzerland was forced to submit virtually all its foreign trading to the scrutiny of the two warring alliances. This gave rise to the concept of economic neutrality.

After the war, Switzerland joined the League of Nations. However, Switzerland was not prepared to renounce its military neutrality. Some tough negotiations led to the London Declaration of 1920, where the country was allowed to accept economic sanctions, albeit not military ones. This variety of neutrality was then named ‘differential neutrality’. When it emerged in the 1930s that the League of Nations was in no position to safeguard world peace, Switzerland distanced itself from the League in 1938 with the slogan “Back to integral neutrality”. The League of Nations conceded that Switzerland was no longer bound by the League’s sanctions.

This ‘integral neutrality’ was pursued by Switzerland during the Second World War and the Cold War, and this very inflexible and legally formalised position has become successively suppler since the 1960s. For example, Switzerland joined the European Council, pursued an idealistic human rights policy and participated actively in the negotiations at the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE, today: OSCE). Since Switzerland joined the UN 20 years ago, it has returned to a type of ‘differential neutrality’. In contrast to 1920, however, Switzerland was not granted any formally neutral status when it joined the UN. Switzerland has nonetheless unilaterally declared that it intends to maintain its neutrality. Now, the UN charter restricts neutrality and requires Switzerland to adopt the sanctions imposed by the UN. In addition, however, Switzerland’s Law on Sanctions from 2002 states that the country will also follow the sanctions that the OSCE and its main trading partners apply. This has now happened with the EU sanctions against Russia following the latter’s military aggression. As to whether the concept of ‘cooperative neutrality’ introduced by Federal President Cassis will ever become a reality, only time will tell.

Neutrality in the ‘Historical Dictionary of Switzerland’