Lessons From The Past &​Visions For The 21st Century

War and Peace have influenced novelists, social scientists, historians, and philosophers over centuries. Neutrality – the state of being at peace with those who are at war – on the other hand, not that much. Then again, ever since the Peloponnesian wars, we have records of polities and thinkers who remained committed to the idea of the right not to choose sides. Recent research in the fields of International Law, International Relations, Diplomacy and History have produced many insights on the importance of neutrality during the long 19^th century and many valuable studies have been conducted on neutrals during the World Wars and even into the Cold War. But how do these periods relate to each other? What do we know about the development of neutrality itself and where does this leave us in the 21^st Century?

We wish to illuminate all aspects regarding the development of the concept of neutrality over the past centuries as well as the most recent changes that we are witnessing today. By bringing together experts from around the world, the conference has the dual goal of exploring the above questions and serving as a starting point for a network of researchers committed to the intellectual exploration of neutrality.