Switzerland and NATO: From Non-Relationship to Cautious Partnership

Author(s): Christian Nünlist
Editor(s): Andrew Cottey
Book Title: The European Neutrals and NATO: Non-alignment, Partnership, Membership?
Pages: 181-210
Publisher(s): Palgrave Macmillan
Publication Year: 2017
Publication Place: London

This chapter analyzes how Switzerland’s relationship with NATO has undergone significant changes since 1949. During the Cold War, Switzerland officially pursued a policy of armed neutrality and strict distance vis-à-vis the Western military alliance. However, we now know that Switzerland had sporadic, secret informal contacts with NATO in the early 1950s, in particular with British Field Marshal Bernard L. Montgomery. In the 1990s, Switzerland introduced a new strategy of “security through cooperation” and joined NATO’s Partnership for Peace (PfP) initiative. Since 1999, it has been participating in the NATO-led peacekeeping mission in Kosovo (KFOR) with a Swiss military contingent (Swisscoy). In the 21st century, Switzerland’s cautious partnership with the Western alliance has become an accepted normality, even if full NATO membership remains a political taboo.

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