Bulletin n. 1/2012
June 2012
CONTENTS
  • Section A) The theory and practise of the federal states and multi-level systems of government
  • Section B) Global governance and international organizations
  • Section C) Regional integration processes
  • Section D) Federalism as a political idea
    • Rosin Philip
    Die Reaktion der Schweiz auf den Vorschlag einer Europäischen Sicherheitskonferenz. Innerer Entscheidungsprozess und diplomatische Aktivitäten 1969–1972
    in Schweizerische Zeitschrift für Geschichte , Band 62, Heft 1, 2012 ,  2012 ,  115-135
    In 1969 the Swiss Foreign Office reacted with reservation to the Eastern propsal for a European Security Conference. A possible participation of Switzerland was made dependent on the compatibility with the Swiss neutrality an the involvement of the United States. In Berne, the perspectives of the Détente were at first, after internal meetings and diplomatic discussions, regarded with scepticism. In December 1969 the Swiss Foreign Office established a study group, which presented a detailed report in July 1970. It supported the idea of participation at the conference and set the goals of recognizing the principle of neutrality and establishing a system for a peaceful settlement of international disputes. In the summer of 1970, in response to two initiatives from MPs, Foreign Minister Graber had to explain the government’s position on the conference proposal to both chambers of the Parliament. In the run-up to the Multilateral Talks, Ambassador Thalmann visited six Eastern European countries. In the fall of 1972 the Foreign Office and the Department of Defense elaborated two reports on the security conference, in which the diplomats were less skeptical than the military. The decision of the Federal Council in favor of a Swiss participation at the Multilateral Talks was part of the larger strategy for a more active foreign policy. Furthermore it was in accordance with the “primacy of utility” (Hans Ulrich Jost), in the sense that the involvement within the CSCE enabled Switzerland to extend its contacts with the Eastern European countries and to find a “compensation” for the UNO and the EEC.
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