The Berkeley Guides:
Berkeley Guide to Europe:
Switzerland:
Background Information for
Switzerland
By Amy Gosling
It's a wonder that Switzerland's trademark orderliness and efficiency could develop amid its chaos of languages, religions, and impassable mountain ridges. On this canvas of fresh alpine meadows, sparkling blue lakes, and dizzying peaks, a wide assortment of Europeans have left their marks. Four languages--German, French, Italian, and Romansch--rub shoulders here today, despite the fact that the country's population is only six million.
A decentralized political system doesn't make it any easier for residents to develop a national identity. The federal government takes care of international affairs, but local administrations handle schools, road construction, taxation, and town planning. Sovereign power seems, at least, to rest very much with the people, who vote on everything from what color official trash cans should be to whether Switzerland should join the European Union. (They decided against membership by a slim margin, with most no votes coming from German-speaking residents who feared joining would destroy their unique grassroots democracy and weaken the economy.)
Against all odds, the political and ethnic hodgepodge has resulted in one of the highest standards of living in Europe, a national income divided evenly among citizens, and--perhaps most surprisingly--a long-standing policy of neutrality during the wars that have rocked the European continent. Of course, Switzerland doesn't have all the bases covered. As Orson Welles said in The Third Man, "Hundreds of years of peace, and what did it produce? The cuckoo clock." It's true that the country lacks an exciting cultural heritage, but it has produced a few famous artists, including Paul Klee and Alberto Giacometti, and its neutrality during World War II attracted many talented refugees, among them James Joyce, Hermann Hesse, Thomas Mann, and Max Beckmann. That said, you won't get a heavy dose of high culture on your visit to Switzerland. You will find loads of bucolic charm, mountain scenery that astounds, and peaceful lakeside cities that could lull you into staying for months . . . if this weren't one of the most expensive countries in Europe.
|
