Neutrality and the Common Market: the Soviet View

Abstract

The Soviet doctrine on the legal implications of neutrality is liberal with regard to the non-aligned nations in the third world but rigid with regard to the neutral states in Western Europe. On the one hand, Soviet jurists defend the right of neutral countries to pursue a highly active foreign policy. On the other, they contend that neither mem bership nor association with the Common Market is compatible with Swedish, Austrian, or Swiss neutrality. This inherent tension in the Soviet theory of neutrality is not resolved at the level of abstract definitions of neutrality and neutralism where the liberal interpretation tends to prevail.