Originally published in 1988, this book examines the experiences of neutral states in Europe during the Second World War and in the postwar peiod. It examines both the practical and the theoretical considerations and the interface between the two, and discusses the implications of the experience of these countries for small states generally

Neutrality is a legal relationship between a belligerent State and a State not participating in a war, namely a neutral State. The law of neutrality is a body of rules and principles that regulates the legal relations of neutrality. The law of neutrality obliges neutral States to treat all belligerent States impartially and to abstain from providing military and other assistance to belligerents. The law of neutrality is a branch of international law that developed in the nineteenth century, when international law allowed unlimited freedom of sovereign States to resort to war. Thus, there has been much debate as to whether such a branch of law remains valid in modern international law, which generally prohibits war and the use of force by States. While there has been much debate regarding the current status of neutrality in modern international law, there is a general agreement among scholars as to the basic features of the traditional law of neutrality. Wani challenges the conventional understanding of the traditional neutrality by re-examining the historical development of the law of neutrality from the sixteenth century to 1945. The modification of the conventional understanding will provide a fundamentally new framework for discussing the current status of neutrality in modern international law.

Originally published in 1970 The Theory and Practice of Neutrality in the Twentieth Century documents the various shapes and forms that neutrality has taken. The most important are neutralization, traditional neutrality, ad hoc neutrality and non-alignment. Each of these terms is carefully defined and illustrated by documents running from the beginning of this century to the late 1960s. This enables students to judge for themselves whether neutrality can again become, as it was in the past, an honourable convenience, or whether, except in so far as it contributes to mediation and peacekeeping, it is an anachronism.

Label mounted on title page: Humanities Press, New York. Popularized version of the author's thesis "The changing concept of neutrality," University of Wisconsin. Bibliography: p. [306]-313.

The essays in this collection cover not only multiple countries, but also multiple aspects of the concept of neutrality: political, economic, cultural and legal. These case studies have led to a re-evaluation of the notion of neutrality, and the role of neutrals, during the First World War, making this collection of great value to all scholars of neutrality, the history of individual neutral countries, and of the war itself.