8. Switzerland and NATO: From Non-Relationship to Cautious Partnership

In this chapter, Nünlist analyses how Switzerland’s relationship with NATO has changed significantly since 1949. During the Cold War, Switzerland officially pursued a policy of armed neutrality and strict distance from the Western military alliance. In practice, however, we now know that there were 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, Switzerland has contributed a military contingent (Swisscoy) to the NATO-led peacekeeping mission in Kosovo. In the twenty-first century, Switzerland’s cautious partnership with the Western alliance has become an accepted normality, even if full NATO membership remains a political taboo.