After the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Sweden and Finland chose to join NATO, but Ireland and Switzerland chose to remain neutral. This study asked how Irish and Swiss neutrality differs with regards to integration and screening; why does their neutrality differ and how well can structural realism and neoclassical realism explain Irish and Swiss neutrality? The purpose was to gain an understanding of how neutral Ireland and Switzerland could be considerd to be since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and test if Irish and Swiss neutrality could be explained by structural and neoclassical realism. This study used four factors: national defense policy, strategic culture, public opinion, and the policy process. An analytical framework was applied to understand how their neutrality differed. The factors were compared to find where the biggest differences lie which could explain why their neutrality differed. Finally, how they differed was compared with why they differed to understand if the theories used explained their neutrality. The study found that Irish neutrality was more integrated compared with Swiss neutrality. Their neutrality differed due to differences in defense policy and policy process whilst similarities were due to strategic culture and public opinion. Finally, this study found that structural and neoclassical realism could explain Irish and Swiss neutrality, but studies using other theories and methods need to be made to strengthen these results
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:umu-227361 |
| Date | January 2024 |
| Creators | Persson, Olle |
| Publisher | Umeå universitet, Statsvetenskapliga institutionen |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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