ABSTRACT
W hile the Cold War was in progress it was common for people to assume that it was the dominant paradigm that shaped the international system, and that no state, large or small, could fail to be drawn into the bipolar
competition between the United States and the Soviet Union. However, during the years of this monumental conflict some states did attempt to distance themselves from its effects by declaring their neutrality and remaining aloof from either of the Cold War alliance systems. For some states in Europe, such as Switzerland and Sweden, the decision to be neutral was a matter of tradition based on an internationally recognized concept of neutrality that had existed since the sixteenth century. However, for other states, particularly the newly independent nations of Asia and Africa, the desire to remain free of entanglement in the competition between the superpowers represented far more than this. Their rejection of the global Cold War rested not only on their conviction that involvement in this conflict represented an unnecessary threat to their national security, but also on the belief that it directed attention away from the issues that they found most important. Reflecting their own experiences, their priorities were expediting Western decolonization and tackling the causes of economic underdevelopment.
