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Abstract
Switzerland only played a marginal role in the Cold War, even though the small country was situated very close to the central battleground of any potential armed conflict in Europe the ‘special role’ that Switzerland played in the East-West conflict was closely linked to its policy of strict neutrality. Swiss Cold War historians have focused on the reasons for the emergence of Switzerland's ‘special case’ in foreign and security policy and on the consequences of this policy for the political, economic, military, and social relations between Switzerland and its international environment. With the launching of the Parallel History Project (PHP) at ETH Zurich in 1998, Switzerland has become the home of one of the major Cold War History networks. As a result, the findings of a new generation of Swiss Cold War historians are increasingly integrated into an emerging international history of the East-West confrontation.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Daniel Möckli, Daniel Trachsler and Thomas Fischer for their comments on earlier drafts and Christopher Findlay for his excellent editorial assistance.
Notes
Andreas Wenger is professor of international and Swiss security policy and director of the Center for Security Studies (http://www.css.ethz.ch) at ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich). His main research interests are in security and strategic studies and the history of international relations. He is co-author of Schweizer Sicherheitspolitik seit 1945: Zwischen Autonomie und Kooperation (NZZ, 2001) and International Relations: From the Cold War to the Globalized World (Lynne Rienner, 2003) and recently co-edited Transforming NATO in the Cold War: Challenges beyond Deterrence in the 1960s (Routledge, 2007) and Origins of the European Security System: The Helsinki Process Revisited, 1965–75 (Routledge, 2008). Christian Nuenlist is a lecturer at the University of Zurich and a foreign desk editor at the Swiss daily Aargauer Zeitung. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Zurich in 2005 and was a senior researcher at the Center for Security Studies (CSS) at ETH Zurich from 1999 to 2007. He is the author of a political biography of McGeorge Bundy in the Kennedy years (CSS, 1999) and the co-editor of Transforming NATO in the Cold War (Routledge, 2007) and Origins of the European Security System (Routledge, 2008).
[1] See CitationHaltiner et al., Sicherheit 2006, 77–79.
[2] CitationFrei, Neutralität; CitationRiklin, Die dauernde Neutralität der Schweiz.
[3] CitationSchindler, ‘Changing Conceptions of Neutrality in Switzerland’.
[4] CitationBonjour, Geschichte der schweizerischen Neutralität; CitationKreis, Kleine Neutralitätsgeschichte der Gegenwart.
[5] Hanhimäki et al., International History of the Twentieth Century. See also CitationHanhimäki and Westad, The Cold War.
[6] CitationWenger and Zimmermann, International Relations.
[7] CitationLinke, Schweizerische Aussenpolitik der Nachkriegszeit; CitationGabriel and Fischer, Swiss Foreign Policy; Im Hof et al., Geschichte der Schweiz und der Schweizer; CitationSpillmann et al., Schweizer Sicherheitspolitik seit 1945; , La politique étrangère; Jost, Relations internationales; Leimgruber, Goldene Jahr.
[8] Some 2006/07 examples include the following courses: ‘The Relations between Switzerland and South Africa during Apartheid’ (Béatrice Ziegler, University of Zurich); ‘Switzerland in the Cold War, 1947–73’ (Aram Mattioli, University of Lucerne).
[9] Some 2006/07 courses include ‘The Construction of Europe’ (Antoine Fleury, University of Geneva); ‘US Foreign Policy since 1945’ (Jussi Hanhimäki, University of Geneva); ‘History of the United Nations’ (Georg Kreis, University of Bale).
[10] Some 2006/07 examples include ‘Aspects of Swiss Social and Cultural History, 1974–89’ (Regula Argast, University of Zurich); ‘The “Red” Decade: Policy, Militancy, and Counter-Culture in the 1970s’ (Christina CitationSpäti, University of Fribourg); ‘Hot Media, Cold War’ (Erich Hörl, University of Lucerne).
[11] A helpful list of ongoing and finished MA and Ph.D. projects can be found at http://www.sgg-ssh.ch/material/Bulletins/SGG-LizDiss2005-06.pdf. For earlier lists, see http://www.sgg-ssh.ch/de/publikationen.php
[12] A series of published MA theses resulting from archival research in the US are accessible at http://www.isn.ethz.ch/pubs/ph/details.cfm?lng = en&id = 52; see also http://www.css.ethz.ch/teaching/abgeschlossene/.
[13] http://www.php.isn.ethz.ch. For a review of the PHP website, see http://hsozkult.geschichte.hu-berlin.de/rezensionen/type = rezwww&id = 83.
[14] For a helpful historiographical overview, see CitationZala, ‘Publications’.
[15] See CitationMöckli, Neutralität, Solidarität, Sonderfall; CitationTrachsler, Neutral zwischen Ost und West?
[16] ‘Der Begriff der Neutralität’, 26 November 1954, Documents Diplomatiques Suisses, document no. 9546, http://www.dodis.ch. See also Zala, Gebändigte Geschichte.
[17] For an introduction into the debate see, e.g., CitationJost, Europa und die Schweiz; Hug, ‘Vom Neutralismus zur Westintegration’.
[18] See CitationKunz, Aufbruchstimmung und Sonderfall-Rhetorik.
[19] On the UN debates of the 1980s, see CitationMoos, Ja zum Völkerbund; CitationMöckli, ‘Vor einer neuen UNO-Abstimmung’.
[20] On Switzerland's policy towards the United Nations, see CitationFleury, ‘La Suisse et le défi du multilatéralisme’; Hug, ‘Verhinderte oder verpasste Chancen?’
[21] See Spillmann, Schweizer Sicherheitspolitik. See also Daniel Trachsler's forthcoming political biography on Federal Counsellor and Swiss Foreign Minister Max Petitpierre, Bundesrat Max Petitpierr – Gestalter der schweizerischen Aussenpolitik im Katten Krieg (1945–1961).
[22] CitationProbst, ‘Good Offices’; CitationBorsani, ‘Die Schweiz und die Guten Dienste’; Fischer, ‘From Good Offices to an Active Policy of Peace’. For two interesting case studies, see CitationFischer, Die Rolle der Schweiz in der Iran-Geiselkrise; Fischer, Die Guten Dienste. On Geneva as host city for international meetings during the Cold War, see CitationMettan, Genève, Ville de Paix.
[23] Mantovani, Schweizerische Sicherheitspolitik im Ost-West-Konflikt. See also CitationCerutti, ‘La Suisse dans la Guerre froide’.
[24] CitationHug and Kloter, Aufstieg und Niedergang des Bilateralismus; CitationTanner, ‘Die Schweiz und Europa’; CitationDirlewanger et al., La politique commerciale de la Suisse; CitationGees, Die Schweiz im Europäisierungsprozess; Bairoch and Körner, Die Schweiz in der Weltwirtschaft.
[25] CitationDu Bois, Die Schweiz und die europäische Herausforderung; Jost, Europa und die Schweiz; CitationMaurhofer, Die schweizerische Europapolitik; CitationIsaline, La Suisse face à l'intégration européenne; CitationFleury, ‘The Model of Neutrality’; CitationFleury, ‘La Suisse et le Conseil de l'Europe’; CitationZbinden, Der Assoziationsversuch der Schweiz mit der EWG.
[26] CitationSchaller, Schweizer Neutralität im Ost-West-Handel; Van Ooyen, Die Schweizerische Neutralität.
[27] See, e.g., Citationvon Castelmur, Schweizerische-alliierte Finanzbeziehungen; CitationJost, Politik und Wirtschaft im Krieg; CitationUnabhängige Expertenkommission Schweiz-Zweiter Weltkrieg, Die Schweiz und die Goldtransaktionen; CitationSurmann, “Raubgold und die Restitutionspolitik der USA.” On the US campaign against Swiss banks in the 1990s, see CitationCodevilla, Between the Alps and a Hard Place; CitationMaissen, Verweigerte Erinnerung.
[28] Spillmann, Schweizer Sicherheitspolitik; CitationGabriel, Sackgasse Neutralität.
[29] CitationDiethelm, Die Schweiz und friedenserhaltende Operationen.
[30] CitationMüller-Lhotska, Schweizer Korea-Mission. See also CitationSchwarb, Die Mission der Schweiz in Korea.
[31] CitationAndreas Boesiger, ‘Die Doppelkrise Suez/Ungarn 1956’.
[32] On the development of the Swiss army, see CitationErnst, Die Konzeption der Schweizerischen Landesverteidigung; CitationKurz, Geschichte der Schweizer Armee; Milivojevic and Maurer, Swiss Neutrality.
[33] CitationBraun, Von der Reduitstrategie zur Abwehr.
[34] CitationBreitenmoser, Strategie ohne Aussenpolitik. See also CitationKöppel, ‘Auf dem Weg zur Doppelstrategie’.
[35] CitationFischer, Die Grenzen der Neutralität; CitationFanzun and Lehmann, Die Schweiz und die Welt.
[36] CitationGhebali, La diplomatie de la détente; CitationBreitenmoser, Sicherheit für Europa. For an excellent insider view of a Swiss diplomat, see CitationRenk, Der Weg nach Helsinki.
[37] Switzerland only joined the 1950 European Human Rights Convention in 1974 and absented itself from the UN human rights treaties until the 1980s. See CitationFanzun, Die Grenzen der Solidarität; Hug and Mesmer, ‘Von der Entwicklungshilfe’; Schläppi and Kälin, Schweizerische Aussenwirtschaftpolitik; Kälin, et al., Die Schweiz.
[38] CitationSchmitz, Westdeutschland und die Schweiz nach dem Krieg; CitationFleury et al., Die Schweiz und Deutschland; CitationSteffen, Das Kreuz mit Hammer, Zirkel, Ährenkranz; CitationSteffen, ‘Gegensätzliche Partner’; CitationJost-Luong, ‘Die Anerkennung der Volksrepublik China 1950 durch die Schweiz’; CitationSchaufelbuehl, ‘La France et la Suisse’; CitationPfenninger and Schuler, ‘Die bilaterale Beziehungen zwischen der Schweiz und Israel’; Späti, Die Schweiz und die Tschechoslowakei; CitationObrist, Die heimliche Anerkennung Südvietnams durch die Schweiz; CitationGaffino, Autorités et entreprises suisses; CitationMeier, Helvetias guter Draht zum Pfauenthron.
[39] CitationNuenlist, ‘Expanding the East–West Dialogue’; CitationFischer, ‘The Birth of the N + NA’.
[40] CitationGehler and Steininger, Die Neutralen und die europäische Integration.
[41] On Switzerland and nuclear weapons, see CitationMetzler, ‘Die Option einer Nuklearbewaffnung für die Schweizer Armee’; CitationStüssi-Lauterburg, Historischer Abriss zur Frage einer Schweizer Nuklearbewaffnung.
[42] CitationWollenmann, Zwischen Atomwaffe und Atomsperrvertrag.
[43] CitationWildi, Der Traum vom eigenen Reaktor; CitationKupper, Atomenergie und gespaltene Gesellschaft; CitationHeiniger, ‘Die schweizerische Antiatombewegung’; Hug, ‘Geschichte der Atomenergieentwicklung in der Schweiz’.
[44] CitationImhof et al., Konkordanz und Kalter Krieg; CitationImhof, ‘Die Schweiz im Kalten Krieg’.
[45] CitationFurrer, ‘Die Nation als Sonderfall im Schweizer’; CitationSidler, Arnold Künzli; CitationJost, ‘Neutralität und helvetisches Malaise’.
[46] CitationSchiemann, Neutralität in Krieg und Frieden.
[47] CitationMantovani, Schweizerische Sicherheitspolitik im Ost-West-Konflikt; CitationMantovani, ‘Another “Special Relationship”’.
[48] CitationNeval, ‘Mit Atombomben bis nach Moskau’.
[49] In addition to those publications cited in note 7 above, see CitationBretscher-Spindler, Vom heissen zum Kalten Krieg; CitationKästli, Selbstbezogenheit und Offenheit. See also three short syntheses of Swiss foreign policy in the Cold War: CitationTanner, Grundlinien der schweizerischen Aussenpolitik; CitationSchneider, Vom Sonderfall zum Normalfall; Hug et al., Die Aussenpolitik der Schweiz.
[50] CitationKlöti et al., Handbook of Swiss Politics; CitationGabriel and Fischer, Swiss Foreign Policy. See also Nuenlist, ‘Switzerland’.
[51] http://www.bar.admin.ch/org/. Since 2006, the Federal Archive reduced its visiting hours to Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, 9 am to 7 pm. See the overview chapter on Swiss archives in CitationBurkhardt, Arbeiten im Archiv.
[52] http://www.afz.ethz.ch/afz/kalter_krieg.html. See also Fischer, ‘Les Mémoires de diplomates Suisses’.
[54] Citation Diplomatische Dokumente der Schweiz . See http://www.dodis.ch/d/akten.asp. Project leader of the DDS team of ten scholars is Antoine Fleury (University of Geneva). For a portrait of the group, that also lists their personal publications, see http://www.dodis.ch/d/forschungsgruppe.asp
[55] http://www.dodis.ch/d/datenbank.asp. The bibliographical database includes works from 2001 onwards. Older works are listed in an older bibliography: http://www.dodis.ch/d/bibliographie.asp
[56] CitationSchöttli, USA und EVG; CitationPeter, Abschrecken und Überleben im Nuklearzeitalter; CitationWenger, Living with Peril; CitationMünger, Kennedy, die Berliner Mauer und die Kubakrise; CitationNicolet, United States Policy towards Cyprus. See also CitationNuenlist, Kennedys rechte Hand; Herren, ‘International History’.
[57] CitationLocher, Crisis – What Crisis?; CitationNuenlist, Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Political Cooperation in NATO; CitationWenger, ‘Crisis or Opportunity?’; CitationLocher and Nuenlist, ‘Reinventing NATO’; CitationWenger et al., Transforming NATO in the Cold War; Nuenlist et al., International Perspectives on de Gaulle's Foreign Policy.
[58] Wenger and Suri, ‘At the Crossroads of Diplomatic and Social History’.
[59] For the programmes, conference reports, audio files, or summary notes of the 2003 workshop in Florence, the 2005 international conference in Rüschlikon and the 2007 workshop in Vienna, see http://www.php.isn.ethz.ch. The results of the project are currently in publication; see Wenger et al., Origins of the European Security System.
[60] CitationMöckli, European Foreign Policy during the Cold War.
[61] CitationMöckli and Mauer, European–American Relations.
[62] CitationMastny et al., War Plans and Alliances in the Cold War.
[63] CitationMastny and Byrne, A Cardboard Castle?
[65] CitationHanhimäki, ‘Searching for a Balance’.
[66] CitationHanhimäki, The Flawed Architect.
[67] CitationHanhimäki, United Nations.
[68] This is a joint research and archival project linking the Graduate Institute of International Studies (GIIS), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Geneva Center for Security Policy (GCSP), with funding from the Geneva International Academic Network (GIAN). See: http://hei.unige.ch/sections/hp/UNHCRProject.htm. The research is coordinated by Jérôme B. Elie.
[69] CitationElie, ‘The UNHCR and the Cold War’. Topics addressed include the militarization of refugee camps (Central America, Pakistan); the linkage between human rights violations and massive refugee flows (Chile, Nicaragua, South Africa, Uganda); major protracted refugee situations (Afghanistan, Burundi, Chad, Sudan); UNHCR involvement in situations of internal armed conflict (Central America, Afghanistan, Angola); renewed emphasis on repatriation and rehabilitation (Bangladesh, Equatorial Guinea, Zaire/Congo); the role of UNHCR as coordinator of large-scale UN assistance operations (Bangladesh, Cyprus); UNHCR relations and interaction with other UN agencies, international organizations and NGOs; increased focus on gender based persecution and on the special needs of refugee women.
[70] See CitationEngeler, Grosser Bruder Schweiz.
[71] CitationEidgenössisches Militärdepartement (EMD), Bericht der parlamentarischen. See also CitationGanser, NATO's Secret Armies.
[72] http://www.snf.ch/NFP/nfp42/synthesis.htm. See CitationGoetschel et al., Schweizerische Aussenpolitik.
[73] The Eizenstat Report is online at http://www.ushmm.org/index.html
[74] http://www.uek.ch/en/index.htm. CitationUnabhängige Expertenkommission Schweiz – Zweiter Weltkrieg, Die Schweiz, der Nationalsozialismus und der Zweite Weltkrieg. For a concise summary by the Commission's chair, see CitationBergier, ‘Einladung zur weiterführenden Diskussion’, 85.
[75] Kreis, Die Schweiz und Südafrika. For an overview of all project publication and results, see http://www.snf.ch/NFP/NFP42%2B/index.html. See also, Bischof, Südafrika im Spiegel der Schweizer Botschaft; Gylax, La Swiss-South African Association.
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