Caroline de Gruyter
When the world was still a global village, a small European country could reasonably choose to be unaligned or neutral. It could steer its course as a sovereign nation and do some nice cherry-picking from international alliances on the side. If it was blessed with resources or a profitable niche business sector, then it could even delude itself with the belief that it hardly needed others at all.
Look at Switzerland, which calmy and neutrally sailed the waves of globalization for many years. Look at Iceland: in NATO but outside the European Union, and which never built a standing army because it never had the need. Or look at Norway, another NATO member outside the EU, proudly enjoying its wealth and independence while quietly copying most of the EU’s rulebook. Until a few years ago, all these small states thought they had the best of all worlds.
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