This book offers a timely and concise academic and historical background to the concept and practice of neutrality, a relatively new phenomenon in foreign and security policy.

The author approaches two key questions: under what circumstances can permanent neutrality be applied and, what are the main ingredients of success and the causes of failure, in applying permanent neutrality? By evaluating, comparing and contrasting the two successful European case-studies of Austria and Switzerland and the two challenging Asian case-studies of Afghanistan and Laos, the author creates a new framework of analysis to explore the feasibility of reframing, adopting and applying a policy of neutrality and jump start debates on feasibility of the idea of 'new neutrality.' He opens the debate by arguing that, as neutrality successfully functioned as a conflict resolution tool during the Cold War, can a reframed and adopted version of neutrality could also serve the needs of the 21st century world order.

An insightful book for all scholars, students and policy-makers working in International Relations, Security Studies, the history of neutrality and Afghanistan studies.