Introduction: Neutrality and Nonalignment in World Politics during the Cold War

Over the past two decades, research on Cold War neutrality has advanced rapidly. With the declassification of important archival collections, the image of the four European “classic” neutrals—Austria, Finland, Sweden, and Switzerland—has changed considerably. New facets have emerged in the understanding of how neutrality functioned as a part of the Cold War international system. In particular, the importance and connections of neutrality’s domestic political and ideational dimensions in foreign policymaking has been stressed in the latest research on Cold War neutrality.