Fighter jets and development aid
Our parliament took two astounding decisions this year. It decided in the spring to increase the development aid budget and in the autumn to expand the army and purchase new combat aircraft. Both affect foreign policy, including the decision on the army. What can we expect from them? - By Peter Niggli
In discussing this question I am assuming that the purpose of foreign policy is to guarantee national self-determination and secure policy space in the international arena.
Switzerland's development aid contributes to our national self-determination in that it helps to reduce tensions between privileged and extremely disadvantaged countries and peoples, thereby fostering peace. Development aid also expands Switzerland's international policy space by strengthening relations with a number of countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia. Today, whenever Switzerland seeks to create coalitions of «small states» at the UN, the World Trade Organization (WTO) or elsewhere so as to better stand up to the major players (G-20, etc.), the network of connections spawned by 50 years of development cooperation proves extremely useful.
The army is the instrument that is expected to preserve national self-determination in the event of an external threat of war. There are countries that also use their army to expand their foreign policy space – whether through participation in military alliances, so called peace-enforcement operations or imperial interventions in other countries. Swiss neutrality prohibits this – which by the way is a further «soft» advantage of our foreign policy positioning. Normally therefore, our army makes only an extremely limited contribution to national self-determination and none to securing international policy space. It would play a more substantial role only in the event of the breakdown of peace in Europe. To what extent it would be able even then militarily to avert the threat is an open question. Our army doesn’t have any war experience since 1848. The only conflict exposure its officers have is bureaucratic infighting for positions and boni.
The decisions to increase development aid and expand the army have considerable financial implications. The new parliament may well not be prepared to finance both items next year. It must therefore make a clear determination as to what better serves the preservation of national self-determination and the expansion of Switzerland's international policy space.
Peter Niggli, Director, Alliance Sud
Editorial published in: Alliance Sud News No. 69, Autumn 2011
