Finland’s recent decision to join NATO is a monumental one; the country’s neutrality was the last domino keeping any semblance of a Russian penchant for peace alive in European minds. Due to Russia’s occupation of Finland in the early 20th century, the relations between the two countries were mostly amicable. This trust was what kept Finland from joining NATO- the same trust that was lost after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a previously neutral country.
The history of neutrality is not a great one either, especially not for countries positioned close to larger powers. For example, Belgium was invaded twice by Germany in both World Wars and was left to its devices by the countries that were meant to protect it (UK and France had guaranteed its protection in exchange for Belgium remaining neutral.) The same thing was seen when Czechoslovakian land was quite literally given to Hitler by the British, French, and Italian government as a form of appeasement. The Czechoslovak government was not even a part of the conference where this was decided.
The US sends aircraft carriers to intimidate China and North Korea in order to protect its allies in Japan and South Korea, and at the same time, they establish military bases in allied countries like Germany and Djibouti to ensure that their presence is felt. Simultaneously, the US army, as well as nearly every other army in the world, has not sent a single troop to fight in Ukraine. This is the price that the country has paid for its neutrality.
Other countries like Switzerland have been neutral for several centuries, but this comes at both a sociological and economic cost. During the second world war, the Swiss government was forced to construct enough bunkers to house its entire population as well as boost military encampments to fight off a potential invasion. Even today, each Swiss male is conscripted to the military to ensure a battle-ready population in case of war. However, this also comes with the benefits of one of the greatest levels of international cooperativeness in the world; the Swiss hold the strongest passport and also benefit when it comes to setting up businesses internationally.
Thus, neutrality in today’s day and age is a heavily loaded term and, although it brings uncertainty and heavy costs for every country, it can also be a great vehicle for international cooperation.
