Publisher's Synopsis
The concept of neutralism today faces a fundamental challenge in the rapidly evolving environment of European politics. The improvement in relations between NATO and the Warsaw Pact has diluted the traditional role of the neutral state as 'a bridge between East and West'. This dilution has been compounded by the shift towards Western economic and political integration which appears to threaten the concept of separate national identity upon which the concept of neutralism is predicated. This volume seeks to examine whether Europe's neutral states will be able to sustain a genuinely independent political, military and arms control platform or whether they will succumb to the increasingly powerful supra-national institutions of the new Europe.
