Neutral country

A neutral country takes no side in a war between other parties, and in return hopes to avoid being attacked by either of them. The concept of neutrality in conflicts must be distinguished from that of non-alignment. The basic international laws covering neutral territories is the Second Hague Convention.

Some neutrality models include:

• Switzerland - self-imposed, permanent, and armed, designed to ensure external security.
• Austria - to maintain external independence and inviolability of borders.
• Turkmenistan - declared its permanent neutrality and had it formally recognized by the U.N
• Laos - the International Agreement on the Neutrality of Laos was signed in Geneva on July 23, 1962, by 14 nations, including included the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.
• United States - its first president, George Washington, stated in his farewell address warned against permanent foreign alliances. "It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world..."

Other countries may be more active on the international stage, but emphasizing an intention to remain neutral in case of war proximate to the country. By such a declaration of intentions, the country hopes that all beligerents will count on the country's territory as off limits for the enemy, and hence unneccessary to waste resources on.

Many countries occupied during World War II had tried this way, and in the end only Ireland, Sweden and Switzerland were successful — though Éire supplied some important secret information to the Allies, for instance was the date of D-Day decided on the basis of incoming Atlantic weather information supplied from Ireland, while Sweden and Switzerland, as embedded within Nazi-Germany and her associates, made some concessions to Nazi requests.

See also: Non-Aligned Movement

External linnk

• Second Hague Convention