The fundamental goal of this project is to identify ways in which the Government of Switzerland might enhance its capacity to provide various “third party” roles, such as “good offices” and other forms of mediation in an international system experiencing greater degrees of tension, conflict, and violence than in the recent past, without at the same time sacrificing its long tradition of neutrality in international relations. Although we will consider conflicts world-wide, in which Switzerland has provided good offices and other third party services for many years, we will focus especially on the potential role that Switzerland might play in international conflicts involving major global actors, especially those possessing nuclear weapons. This will include increased tensions between the United States and both the Russian Federation and the Peoples’ Republic of China, but we will also consider relations between the United States and other more recent and even potential entrants into the status of nuclear weapons states, including North Korea and Iran. We may also consider other regional rivalries among nuclear-armed states such as India and Pakistan. Throughout recent history, all of these states have been reluctant to accept overt intervention into their conflicts by outside parties, preferring to manage these conflicts unilaterally, bilaterally, or with the aid of formal alliances. For this very reason, outside engagement must generally be very discrete and at the same time highly professional in the approach taken. It is, therefore, this consideration that creates a unique “comparative advantage” for Swiss engagement in these multifaceted and highly dangerous conflicts.
