Neutrals as brokers of peacebuilding ideas?

Neutral states have traditionally been seen as favoring specific norms in international relations. Being itself originally a legal concept, neutrality was intimately linked to the importance and the respect of international law. Additionally, neutral states were seen as promoters of humanitarian ideals and elements we would in our days label as peace-building. Based on these considerations, the article tackles the more general assumption according to which neutral states would in general play a disproportionate role in promoting new “positive” ideas into the international relations because a) they have a tradition of doing so which was intimately linked to their survival as states and to their political culture, b) they have a comparative advantage in doing so because the ideas they bring in are not seen as part of hidden agendas in promoting other power-related goals, and c) the type of ideas they have been and they still are promoting always aimed at either preventing war or limiting the negative effects of war.