The breaking down of contemporary state neutrality: the case of Sweden`s non-alliance

This article is a review and its main purpose is to show the evolution of the idea of neutrality as well as its contemporary understanding in selected cases. At the present time traditional neutrality seems to be an anachronism, and its contemporary forms are an expression of the adaptation of states to changing international conditions. The evolution of the concept began with neutrality abandoning its economic dimension and then reducing its military one. The distinction between war and conflict in the UN`s sense gave the neutral state the opportunity to participate in armed intervention, which in reality meant shifting from neutrality towards non-alliance. For example, Sweden is playing a specific political game to gain benefits from neutrality.