|
|
Article: Neutrality
- Article from:
- Dictionary of American History
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
NEUTRALITY
NEUTRALITY
is the principle of classical international law and politics that allows a nation-state to remain friendly with both sides in a war. Neutrality and the international law of war from which it derives have been significant at times in U.S. history, but at the close of the twentieth century neutrality was less central than doctrines of the United Nations Charter, customary notions of state responsibility, and new concepts of individual criminal liability.
State neutrality is an invention of early modern Europe. Ancient states frequently forced other states to abet their wars or to suffer the consequences, although the ancient Greeks did recognize the neutrality of ...