Case 250 - Negotiating Neutrality: Austria and the European Union

Lantis, Jeffrey S., and Matthew F. Queen

This two-part case study describes how Austrian leaders developed and implemented a sophisticated plan to join the European Union (E.U.) and move beyond a 40-year-old policy of "permanent neutrality." Students will explore the key actors and conditions involved in a major foreign policy decision; analyze the development of an innovative political strategy; familiarize themselves with a country quite different from the United States—a small, neutral, European state considering membership in a very powerful regional organization; and relate the developments of this case to changes in the regional and international security environment in the post-Soviet world.