ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with the differing motivations of the two countries for choosing to participate in the conference on security and cooperation in europe. It explains their geographical, political, and historical background defining their attitude towards the general idea of an East-West detente and the more specific project of the Security Conference. The chapter shows that how their understanding of neutrality at first led to a conservative interpretation of their role in the Conference, a role that began to change gradually only after the opening of the multilateral preparatory talks in Helsinki. It outlines the major projects Austria and Switzerland tried to introduce to the Conference agenda. The chapter highlights the major steps that established the N+NA-states first as important individual actors at the Conference through their active participation in procedural matters and later as a group by combining their individual proposals on security matters to a common proposal during Stage II.
