Neutral States and Bloc-based Integration

Abstract

According to the theoretical construction presented in this article, the integration prob lem of a state actor with respect to an integration phenomenon is a resultant of two countervailing forces - integration pressures and integration restraints. These, in turn, are decomposable into lower-level concepts. Neutrality as a foreign policy orientation entails obligations which give rise to particular integration restraints. There are a number of methods the neutral can use to deal with the problem. According to the dominant methods in its over-all behavioral profile, its basic mode of adaptation can be called either adaptation to restraints or adaptation of restraints. There is also the possibility of evading the problem without adaptation to or adaptation of restraints. An empirical analysis shows that Sweden, Switzerland and Austria have mainly resorted to adaptation of restraints and Finland predominantly to adaptation to restraints as well as particular problem-evading methods in dealing with their postwar integration problems.