Alarmed by the Ukraine crisis and Russia's military activity in the Baltic Sea region, Finland and Sweden are currently engaged in an intensive debate about their national security. Faced with a changing threat scenario, there is growing doubt in both countries about their current defence capabilities. Questions are also being asked about the security policy course pursued since the end of the Cold War, with calls for higher military spending and NATO accession being the reflex response. However, corresponding initiatives would need to be embedded in a comprehensive and coherent security and defence strategy. Various options for cooperation exist at bilateral, regional and European level and could comprise key elements of this strategy.

This book provides the first detailed comparative analysis of the unusual partnership between the main European neutral states and NATO. Neutrality and alliance membership are fundamentally incompatible, but through the vehicle of NATO’s post-Cold War partnerships the European neutral states and NATO have found a way to bridge this gap and cooperate with one another. Based on case studies of Austria, Finland, Ireland, Sweden and Switzerland written by leading experts, this book explores the detail of each country’s relationship with NATO, the factors shaping those relationships and whether any of these states are likely to abandon neutrality and join NATO. The book also contributes to broader work on foreign policy by exploring different explanations of the European neutral states’ foreign and security policy choices. This book will be of interest to scholars of the European neutral states, NATO and European security, as well as to those interested in understanding the dynamics behind states foreign policy choices.

In The Non-Aligned Movement: Genesis, Organization and Politics (1927-1992) Jürgen Dinkel examines the history of the NAM since the interwar period as a special reaction of the “Global South” to changing global orders.

The Soviet Union and Cold War Neutrality and Nonalignment in Europe examines how the neutral European countries and the Soviet Union interacted after World War II. Amid the Cold War division of Europe into Western and Eastern blocs, several long-time neutral countries abandoned neutrality and joined NATO. Other countries remained neutral but were still perceived as a threat to the Soviet Union’s sphere of influence. Based on extensive archival research, this volume offers state-of-the-art essays about relations between Europe’s neutral states and the Soviet Union during the Cold War and how these relations were perceived by other powers.

In 1999 the EU decided to develop its own military capacities for crisis management. This book brings together a group of experts to examine the consequences of this decision on Nordic policy establishments, as well as to shed new light on the defence and security issues that matter for Europe as a whole.