Ireland and Switzerland are two island nations: While Ireland is a geographical island, Switzerland is a political one. Despite this – or perhaps precisely because of it – the two states pursue different foreign policies, which is also evident in their bilateral relations. In the latest article of the journal Saggi di Dodis, Dodis researcher Jonas Hirschi shows how relations between between Ireland and Switzerland developed between 1918 and 1992. He comes to the conclusion that it is precisely because the relations were so conflict-free and superficial that they paint an authentic picture of the foreign policy of the two states.
Jonas Hirschi’s article is the result of a research visit in Dublin. Thanks to his visit to archives in Ireland, it is a paradigmatic example of multi-perspective research. He has found the relevant documents on meetings and events from both the Swiss and Irish sides and included them in the Dodis database. Both perspectives are therefore just one click away in the footnotes of the article. Jonas Hirschi thus brings two distant island states a little closer together.
The article by Jonas Hirschi is available for download at dodis.ch/saggi/5-3 in Open Access.
For more articles from the journal Saggi di Dodis: dodis.ch/saggi
A paper by Jonas Hirschi was also published in Irish Studies in International Affairs as part of this research visit.