Book excerpt: This book is a comprehensive study of postwar European neutrality in the context of East-West relations. Hakovirta uses comparative case studies to explore such topics as the general features of neutral foreign policies, how the main neutrals--Austria, Finland, Ireland, Sweden, Switzerland--have fared in the face of East-West confrontations, the role of neutral states as third parties in the control and resolution of East-West conflicts, and the overall viability of neutrality as an option in European foreign policy.