A neutral country takes no side in a war between other parties, and in return hopes to avoid being attacked by either of them. A neutralist policy aims at neutrality in case of an armed conflict that could involve the party in question. A neutralist is an advocate of neutrality in international affairs.
The concept of neutrality in conflicts must be distinguished from that of non-alignment, i.e., the wilful desistence from military alliances in order to preserve neutrality in case of war, and perhaps with the hope of preventing a war altogether. The concept of neutrality in war is narrowly defined and puts specific constraints on the neutral party in return for the internationally recognized right to remain neutral. A wider concept is that of non-belligerence. The basic international law covering neutral territories is the Second Hague Convention. A country that reserves the right to become a belligerent if attacked by a party to the war is in a condition of armed neutrality. Current neutral countries include:
- Austria - to maintain external independence and inviolability of borders (expressly modeled after the Swiss neutrality).
- Costa Rica - neutral country since 1949, after abolishing its military.
- Finland - military doctrine of competent, "credible" independent defence, not depending on any outside support, and the desire to remain outside international conflicts. Initiated Nordic nuclear weapon-free zone.
- Ireland - neutral country since independence in 1922.
- Liechtenstein
- Sweden - Sweden hasn't fought a war since ending its involvement in the Napoleonic Wars in 1814, making it the oldest neutral country in the world.
- Switzerland - self-imposed, permanent, and armed, designed to ensure external security. Switzerland is the second oldest neutral country in the world; it has not fought a foreign war since its neutrality was established by the Congress of Vienna in 1815.
- Turkmenistan - declared its permanent neutrality and had it formally recognised by the U.N.
Countries claimed to have neutrality but not recognized by international affairs
- Cambodia - claimed neutrality 1955-1970, 1993 to the present day
- Moldova - Article 11 of the 1994 Constitution proclaims "permanent neutrality"
Past neutral countries include:
- Belgium - neutral stance since 1839, abolished through the Treaty of Versailles after WWI and abolished again after WWII, confirmed by joining NATO.
- Laos - the International Agreement on the Neutrality of Laos was signed in Geneva on July 23, 1962 by 14 nations, including the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.
- Luxembourg - neutral stance since 1839, abolished through its constitution in 1948, confirmed by joining NATO.
- Netherlands - self-imposed neutrality between 1839 and 1940 on the European continent.
Other countries may be more active on the international stage, while emphasising an intention to remain neutral in case of war close to the country. By such a declaration of intentions, the country hopes that all belligerents will count on the country's territory as off limits for the enemy, and hence unnecessary to waste resources on. Many countries made such declarations during World War II. Most, however, became occupied, and in the end only the state of Ireland, Portugal, San Marino, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland (with Liechtenstein) remained neutral of the European countries closest to the war. Their fulfillment to the letter of the rules of neutrality have been questioned: Ireland supplied some important secret information to the Allies; for instance, the date of D-Day was decided on the basis of incoming Atlantic weather information secretly supplied to them by Ireland but kept from Germany. Also, German pilots who crash landed in Ireland were interned, whereas their Allied counterparts usually went "missing" close to the border. Sweden and Switzerland, as embedded within Nazi Germany and its associates, similarly made some concessions to Nazi requests. However it should be noted that the neutrality of some countries now in the European Union is under dispute, especially as the EU now operates a common foreign policy. This view was supported by the Finnish Prime Minister, Matti Vanhanen, on 5 July 2006 while speaking to the European Parliament as Council President; "Mr Pflüger described Finland as neutral. I must correct him on that: Finland is a member of the EU. We were at one time a politically neutral country, during the time of the Iron Curtain. Now we are a member of the Union, part of this community of values, which has a common policy and, moreover, a common foreign policy." European Parliament Debate (English Translation)
