The answer, it turns out, is "because Switzerland". ( )

The question posed by the title can be interpreted in two ways.
- Why is Switzerland the way it is
and
- Why does it matter to the rest of the world

This book purports to answer both questions, but it spends 95% of the time on the former, by examining Swiss history, as well as politics and religion.

The overarching conclusion is that 'Switzerland is the Europe that didn't happen', with which the author means that Switzerland never went through the centralization of power to the nation-state that happened to all other European countries through the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries.

Prior to the peace of Westphalia there were over three thousand 'sovereign' entities, that owed allegiance to the Holy Roman Emperor, and many of them had signed bilateral defence treaties, similar to the Rütlischwur, that has frequently been taken as the foundation of the Swiss confederation. This was a succession of oaths binding sovereign entities (later cantons, but in the early days cities or regions) in defence alliances.

Thus, the important question isn't 'Why Switerland', but rather 'Why not Europe' - and the answer is that the Swiss cantons were able to defend themselves (Swiss footsoldiers were long famous, and in fact there are still Swiss mercenaries in employ outside the country.) The Alps have always been separated into small valleys and cities with long histories of independence and self-rule, even under nominal overlordship, such as the Holy Roman Emperor. Many also developped into democratic societies where the individual peasant farmers formed the basis of a society with respect for individual ownership, rather than fealty towards a lord.

It's common to compare Switzerland to the federal state of USA, but one very important difference is that the Swiss cantons (unlike America's states) have along history of independence, and have historically only resigned to the federal state questions of defence. In that way Switzerland more closely resembles the European Union than the USA. It's true that with the constitution of 1848 the federal state has taken on additional responsibilities, but the cantons themselves remain very important. And within the cantons there are communes, with very great autonomous power. There are almost 3000 communes in Switzerland, and about 50% of them have less than 1000 inhabitants. This means that the average Swiss person is very close to the government, even if it's only a clerk working half-time as a public servant.

It would of course be impossible to characterise the Swiss without mentioning the system of direct democracy. Four times a year all adult Swiss citizens (and some non-citizens, according to a very complicated formula) are allowed to vote on a list of issues, that can range between (to take an example from last year) increasing the sales tax by 0.1% (federal referendum), to building a new recycling centre (communal referendum).

Even on the highest level the decision-making is coloured by consensus rather than competition. The highest executive branch of the government is the seven-seat Federal Council, and it's made up of a representative selection of all the major political parties. Among these seven the role of presidency rotates, changing every year1.

This gives the system a certain slowness, which can also be interpreted as stability, but at the same time the system changes, with for example the federal constitution having been completely re-written three times since 1848, and with numerous modifications in between. The same is true on the federal level.

He also goes through the history of religious strife within the country and without, but I must admit that I find the various squabbles between the anti-ultramontane and josephinists a bit tiresome.

All in all a very interesting book! The prose might get a bit sluggish at times, but for the most part the author manages to bring the subject alive. The only complaint is that it's getting a bit old. the book was originally written in 1976, but was given a serious face-lift in 1996. A new edition wouldn't go amiss. ( )

This turned out to be an utterly fascinating book, and it explained quite a bit about Swiss behavior and culture. While I of course can't vouch for everything in the book, I've tested a lot of it by observation and questioning the natives, and it seems consistent with reality.

Switzerland turns out to have a number of unique characteristics that aren't obvious to the outsider. For example, the government consists of an extraordinarily complex nested set of committees with a rotating presidency. The author makes the case that virtually all Swiss institutions, including government at all levels, the church and major corporations, are strongly influenced by an 800-year tradition of committee organization. In spite of having the most stable government in Europe (which my Swiss co-workers do not dispute), Switzerland has one of the most malleable constitutions in the world (which my co-workers do dispute).

I'm personally fascinated by language issues, so I read ahead to that chapter before finishing the lengthy chapter on politics. Again, Switzerland is unique in its treatment of dialects, which have very different social implications and practices in the French, German, Italian, and Romansh areas. According to the author, the urban Swiss Germans gave serious consideration to aligning themselves with 'greater Germany' in the 19th century. This obviously did not take place, and one of the unique results is that the local versions of Schwyzer Tüütsch (choose your spelling depending upon the valley you're in) are universally spoken without significant class variations. In other words, this chapter explains why the Italian Swiss are more likely to be comfortable in standard Italian, and the French Swiss are more comfortable in standard French, than the Swiss Germans are speaking standard German. As any outsider who speaks German is painfully aware, the Swiss Germans read and write standard German (Hochdeutsch), but generally prefer not to speak it.

Swiss seem more willing to discuss politics than religion, but the chapter on religion was enlightening. After all, Switzerland was at the heart of the reformation, with Zwingli in Züri and Calvin in Geneva. Again, the Swiss are unique among European countries in their treatment of religion and the extraordinary compromises they have made to allow the peaceful co-existence of roman catholicism and protestantism.

The Swiss military is, unsurprisingly at this point, another unique institution. Virtually the entire male population is expected to belong to the reserves for most of their working years, and they keep their weapons and ammunition in their homes. It was only recently that 52 year olds were no longer required to serve a short annual duty. I've found that the military intrudes regularly when you are working with the Swiss, so besides being interesting, the chapter on the Army is helpful in becoming more aware of some of the workplace dynamics.

How can a country with 4 different official languages have and maintain a common culture? What do the different regions have in common? Quite a bit, actually. Anyone who deals with the Swiss on a regular basis or spends over a week here would find this book a helpful start on building an understanding of Swiss institutions and culture. This would also be an excellent book for students doing cultural area studies of Europe or Switzerland. It is a good read, and anyone interested in contemporary Europe would enjoy it and find it educational. ( )