Strategic neutrality in an uncertain world

Its adoption empowers small states like Nepal to navigate disorder with agency rather than passivity.

The end of the Cold War in 1990 inspired the vision of global collaboration and victory of a liberal triumph—free markets, open borders and the global spread of democracy. Yet, the reality today is very bleak. Protectionist tariffs have returned, long-standing defence alliances are in crisis, regional trade agreements are fractured and wars look imminent. The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, an international military alliance of 32 member states, is debating burden sharing; AUKUS, a trilateral security partnership between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, has sparked regional unease and the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue’s coherence is being tested by diverging strategic priorities. Foreign policy feels confrontational, transactional and unpredictable everywhere.