ABSTRACT

To summarise and restate what we have discussed in Chapter 2, the traditional law of neutrality was a means for a neutral State to guarantee its peace and security. In the traditional law of neutrality, a neutral State was legally entitled not to be involved in war as long as it fulfilled the conditions for the right to remain neutral.1 However, as the duty of a State to remain neutral did not exist in international law, a State did not need to guarantee its peace and security by means of the law of neutrality. A State could guarantee its peace and security by other means, such as alliances with other States.2 The choice between neutrality or an alliance as the means of guaranteeing the peace and security of a State was a political decision to be made by each State.3