The Treaty of Locarno in 1925 presaged not only Switzerland’s importance on the international diplomatic field but also the continuation of post-Versailles tensions that would increase in the 1930s.

The strong presence of international, inter-governmental and non-governmental in the country is part of Swiss diplomatic policy at home and abroad today.

How diplomacy and history merge : UNESCO designates St. Gallen Abbey, the Castles of Bellinzona, the Lavaux vineyards and the Old City of Bern (among a handful of others) as World Heritage Sites.

How the Swiss Government currently presents the official stance on Europe and the European Union.

Switzerland had to be able to guarantee its neutrality during the Cold War: while it couldn’t fight back if attacked, it could have the policy of leaving a nation that wasn’t worth having- essentially a “hedgehog” policy of guerrilla warfare
 

Further reading:

Swiss Foreign Policy: Foundations And Possibilities by M. Bernath, D. Schwarz and L. Goetschel (2005, Routledge)

Neutrality and International Sanctions: Sweden, Switzerland and Collective Security by John F.L. Ross (1989, Relié)

Are international organisations still important and efficacious today? Read one argument in Mirages of International Justice, forthcoming (late 2010)

An alternative view of the usefulness of international law.

Material elaborated in the course of an interview with Jean-Marc Rickli, Adjunct Professor of International Relations at Webster University in Geneva and Head of the Geneva University Strategic Studies Group:    Rickli, Jean-Marc (2010). Neutrality inside and Outside the EU: A Comparison of the Austrian and Swiss Security Policies after the Cold War. in Robert Steinmetz, Baldur Thorhallsson, and Anders Wivel, (eds). Small States in Europe: Challenges and Opportunities. Aldershot: Ashgate, pp. 181-198