ABSTRACT
The security policy has been dominated by successive different threat environments. Elevating neutrality to absolutist dogma, the Netherlands adopted a security posture that relied on an informal maritime ally, international law, a sense of ethical superiority, and denied itself the option of aggression even in defense of the national territory. The adventure of the interbellum period exemplifies the security dilemma experienced by small powers like Belgium or the Netherlands. The alliance with France might have deterred an aggressive Germany, but at the consequence of being dragged into a French foreign policy debacle such as the occupation of the German Ruhr area. By far the smallest of the Benelux nations, Luxembourg's limited resources made armed neutrality unfeasible as a security policy. The long-term security challenges for a European Union will be global in nature and that suggests close coordination with the United States and Canada.
