The role and place of the institute of neutrality in modern diplomatic practice (on the example of Switzerland)

Abstract

The article is devoted to one of the topical issues in modern international relationships, namely the institute of neutrality, its advantages and disadvantages. The institute of neutrality is a successful political model, it has been used in diplomatic practice since the time of the Congress of Vienna, that is, since the beginning of the nineteenth century. The most successful example of a neutral policy is the Swiss Confederation which became the fi rst State to apply this model in practice. It is important to emphasize that Switzerland got its status thanks to the Russian Empire which not only contributed to the development of this model, its application, but also by refusing the reparations due to it after the War with Napoleon, moreover, it allowed Switzerland to develop the banking sector. The institute of neutrality has both advantages, such as non-involvement in military conflicts which means great opportunities for peaceful development at the expense of internal resources, and disadvantages, for example, insuffi cient regulation at the legislative level. Therefore, neutral states can easily evade regulatory legal acts without giving up their status, however, it aff ects their relations with other countries. The examples of this phenomenon are: the desire of Finland and Sweden to join NATO, the participation of the Swiss Confederation in sanctions against Russia in 2022. Finland owes a lot to the Russian Federation, as the legal successor of the USSR, because it was not fully punished for cooperation with the nazis and crimes against humanity, the authorities of this state for some reason forget about it. Switzerland is the country with permanent neutrality at all, in this regard, recent events are completely incompatible with the institution of neutrality. Such actions cannot do without serious consequences, they and the ways to resolve them will be discussed in the article.