On the Awesomeness of the Swiss
Yes, awesomeness.
I wonder sometimes what Europeans think of the penchant of many Americans to unilaterally declare that their's is the greatest nation of all. I gather that as many Europeans think and speak of their own respective nations as affectionately, however it seems to me that Americans are the most emphatic about it. These are all personal sentiments of course; some, I guarantee, are based upon what some sociobiologists refer to as an anti-foreigner bias, an evolutionarily manifested, naturally selected aversion to people who are not of one's tribal group. Some are undoubtedly the result of nationalistic influences from one's education or culture. Nevertheless, the notion of America's supremacy arises as I consider a quaint Alpine ally of ours that most Americans aged 18 to 24 probably cannot locate on a map.
My interest in Switzerland first began after I noticed how consistently well it had performed on past Indices of Economic Freedom. In the 2011 Index of Economic Freedom, Switzerland ranked as the economically freest nation examined in Europe and readily trounced the United States, beating it in all categories except labour freedom and business freedom (these terms refer to narrow types of freedom, lest anyone think the contrary). It also has performed exceptionally well in the 2010 International Property Rights Index (page 55 of 64), ranking 5th in the world with the U.S. ranking 15th, and in Freedom House's 2010 Index.
Just recently in Switzerland, 56.3 percent of voters in a national referendum voted against a proposal that would have prohibited army issued firearms from people's homes and established a central arms register, reaffirming gun rights. Gun ownership is ubiquitous in Switzerland. This may help to explain why crime in Switzerland is as low as it is. Other factors include the simple truism that the Swiss just know how to behave themselves. When my mother traveled there during the Cold War, she remarked that it was probably the cleanest, riff-raffless place she had ever been. The Swiss maintain this inclination towards cleanliness today. Try vacationing in the U.S. under these presumptions.
Of course, the Swiss are best known perhaps for their skills as financiers. Switzerland, a member of neither the bureaucratic, bloodsucking, overrated European Union or the Eurozone, continues to aggravate its neighbors by engaging in a delightful form of tax competition, despite unlettered intimidation from Washington and the OECD. European firms fed up with the exorbitant taxes simply leave for Geneva or Zurich or some other charming Swiss locale.
Maybe the biggest contributor to Swiss civil liberties is its decentralized political configuration. Switzerland is a confederation of 26 autonomous cantons. Jurisdictions (including the federal one) are small, the assignment of tasks to local authorities is maximized, popular referenda are a staple of political life, and political power is decentralized within the federal government itself where, instead of a president-dictator, the Swiss have a seven-member executive called the Federal Council. Hence, the obstacles to government aggrandizement are significant.
And to add the proverbial cherry on top, the Swiss don't prop up dictators like the State or Defense Department do, which is always a good thing.
So while I think much of Europe may be [expletive, predicate/description], I think we can look to the Swiss for both suggestions and optimism.
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Sep '10
Re: On the Awesomeness of the Swiss
What are the Swiss policies on immigration? I have heard they are very restrictive, is that true?
May '10
Re: On the Awesomeness of the Swiss
I think they've become more restrictive. There's a dismaying kind of nationalist sentiment that may be gaining popularity.
Oct '10
Re: On the Awesomeness of the Swiss
You don't suppose the Swiss are successful because of their restrictive monoculture?
May '10
Re: On the Awesomeness of the Swiss
Matthew Osborn
You don't suppose the Swiss are successful because of their restrictive monoculture?
Its the content of a culture that matters. The Swiss are as successful as they are because they value, for the most part, their civil liberties and their decentralized, limited governmental system. Why should immigration change this? Is the Swiss commitment to civil liberties that feeble? They could use some more self-confidence.
Jul '10
Re: On the Awesomeness of the Swiss
The Swiss net about 1/3 the migration we do and about 1/2 of the UK per capita.
Given that it's a reasonably desirable destination, Switzerland must have pretty tight policies.
Oct '10
Re: On the Awesomeness of the Swiss
Michael Labeit
Matthew Osborn
You don't suppose the Swiss are successful because of their restrictive monoculture?
Its the content of a culture that matters. The Swiss are as successful as they are because they value, for the most part, their civil liberties and their decentralized, limited governmental system. Why should immigration change this? Is the Swiss commitment to civil liberties that feeble? They could use some more self-confidence. · Mar 8 at 9:31am
Once again, Michael, we founder upon the rocks of fuzzy thinking. What, exactly, is the relationship between a nation and its culture? Can either exist without the other?
Jul '10
Re: On the Awesomeness of the Swiss
The Swiss live on the good graces of the United States.
What is the ability of the Swiss to defend themselves against a foreign invasion?
What is the ability of the Swiss to project power to maintain and ensure their strategic interests?
May '10
Re: On the Awesomeness of the Swiss
Michael Tee: The Swiss live on the good graces of the United States.
What is the ability of the Swiss to defend themselves against a foreign invasion?
What is the ability of the Swiss to project power to maintain and ensure their strategic interests?
Was it the presence of the United States that dissuaded the Third Reich from invading? Hitler contemplated an incursion but after assessing the geography and the well-armed Swiss population, he realized that a war with the Swiss would have been an exceedingly costly one. At one point, the Swiss were an oasis of freedom and rationality in a desert of fascism. The Swiss remain a well-armed nation and have elaborate emergency procedures involving underground tunnels to cope with the threat of a nuclear attack.
Sure the U.S. provided protection during the Cold War, but what has that got to do with Swiss political economy, its limited government, its civil liberties, its tax haven status, its financial dexterity, its gun rights, or its refusal to bankroll foreign despots? There's more to the success of Switzerland than the fact that it fell under the nuclear "umbrella" of the Defense Dept.
Edited on Mar 8, 2011 at 12:41pmJul '10
Re: On the Awesomeness of the Swiss
Michael Tee: The Swiss live on the good graces of the United States.
What is the ability of the Swiss to defend themselves against a foreign invasion?
What is the ability of the Swiss to project power to maintain and ensure their strategic interests? · Mar 8 at 11:31am
Historically incorrect. Switzerland has been immune from European wars for four reasons, none of them having to do with the United States.
First, their alpine terrain greatly favors defense. It's a fool's errand to invade.
Second, there really isn't any strategic objective to be gained by invading Switzerland; they don't have much in the way of resources and they do not lie upon any strategic corridor.
Third, the Swiss have long chosen neutrality; all of Europe understands that.
Fourth, Switzerland plays an important diplomatic and financial role in times of European conflict. It is through the Swiss that contending sides in the wars have negotiated with each other. And it is in Switzerland's banks that they have entrusted their gold reserves.
May '10
Re: On the Awesomeness of the Swiss
Matthew Osborn
Michael Labeit
Matthew Osborn
You don't suppose the Swiss are successful because of their restrictive monoculture?
Its the content of a culture that matters. The Swiss are as successful as they are because they value, for the most part, their civil liberties and their decentralized, limited governmental system. Why should immigration change this? Is the Swiss commitment to civil liberties that feeble? They could use some more self-confidence.
Once again, Michael, we founder upon the rocks of fuzzy thinking. What, exactly, is the relationship between a nation and its culture? Can either exist without the other?
Cultures tend to influence nations. Cultures are necessary conditions for nations, though I'm not so sure that nations are necessary conditions for cultures.
If you're implying that the Swiss need to apply restrictive immigration measures in order to maintain the economic or cultural integrity of their nation, I would have to disagree. There's something suspect about physically obstructing people from entering a country merely because they subscribe to different ideas.
May '10
Re: On the Awesomeness of the Swiss
Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't the Swiss act as the Nazi bank during WWII? Decades after the war, descendants of slain Jews were still trying to retrieve their stolen inheritance from Swiss depositories. And Hitler would not have stayed out of Switzerland forever.
I agree with others that Switzerland's success is largely dependent on geography and demography. Switzerland has fewer than eight million people in a land "less than twice the size of New Jersey." They do not share many of our challenges, including descendance from dozens of unrelated cultures and an abundance of enemies who hate us simply because we are the most powerful and influential nation in the world.
But I don't doubt you, Michael, that there might be things we could learn from the Swiss.
May '10
Re: On the Awesomeness of the Swiss
Operation Tannenbaum. I can't blame Hitler for not going through with it.
Jul '10
Re: On the Awesomeness of the Swiss
Kenneth
Historically incorrect.
It's a fool's errand to invade.
The Swiss have long chosen neutrality.
· Mar 8 at 12:29pm
First you argue there's no strategy to taking Switzerland then you say it's an excellent defensive position...
Historically correct. Rome took over Switzerland. Switzerland paid fealty to the Holy Roman Empire. France (some bloke named Napoleon) took over Switzerland, no problem. In WW2, Switzerland remained "neutral" by concessions to Hitler, good fortune, and military preparedness.
The Grimm-Hoffmann affair almost ended their neutrality in WW1.
No country chooses neutrality; other countries choose not to invade; Poland would have chosen neutrality; ditto Czechoslovakia.
If Germany or Russia ever goes hostile ever again, you can be sure they won't sack Switzerland, because they said they were neutral.
If you think that the presence of the U.S. Military in Europe does not or did not deter hostile elements, then perhaps there is no arguing with you.
Today Switzerland does not have spend money on a military presence they way they would if the United States did not have 57,000 troops in Germany, 10,000 in England, and a further 10,000 in Italy. Plus.
Nov '10
Re: On the Awesomeness of the Swiss
I will say that the density of small businesses in Geneva and its suburbs is probably an order of magnitude higher than it is just across the border in Annemasse. The fact that they kept their currency probably doesn't hurt, either.
Oct '10
Re: On the Awesomeness of the Swiss
Michael Labeit
Cultures tend to influence nations. Cultures are necessary conditions for nations, though I'm not so sure that nations are necessary conditions for cultures.
If you're implying that the Swiss need to apply restrictive immigration measures in order to maintain the economic or cultural integrity of their nation, I would have to disagree. There's something suspect about physically obstructing people from entering a country merely because they subscribe to different ideas. · Mar 8 at 12:39pm
I am unaware of any successful nation that did not have a founding culture, nor am I aware of any successful nation whose prime directive was not that of protecting its founding culture. India foundered upon religious differences and split into India proper and the two Pakistans. Yugoslavia was held together through oppression, as was Turkey, Iraq, Kosovo, the USSR, China, Korea, etc.
As to the point of this thread, I would disagree with Cas that it is the socons who are trying to change the culture. To the contrary, the socons are attempting to preserve their founding culture in the face of attacks by other cultures.
May '10
Re: On the Awesomeness of the Swiss
Michael Tee
Kenneth
First you argue there's no strategy to taking Switzerland then you say it's an excellent defensive position...
A region's lack of strategic value does not prohibit it from being an excellent defensive position. I'll stick with the argument that appeals to the inhospitality of the Swiss terrain, the well-armed Swiss population, and the lack of strategic value. As you know, concessions hardly discouraged Hitler from ordering an invasion.
Furthermore, it seems you feel as if undo credit has been given to the Swiss and not to the United States. I think you're neglecting what are the primary factors that explain Switzerland's security. In addition, the presence of the U.S. doesn't explain the wisdom of Swiss politico-economic policy.
May '10
Re: On the Awesomeness of the Swiss
What do you mean by "protecting" its founding culture? What do you have in mind for the U.S., since from what you've written is quite clear that you find some contemporary cultural phenomenon to be alarming?
Edited on Mar 8, 2011 at 2:14pmJul '10
Re: On the Awesomeness of the Swiss
Michael Tee
Kenneth
Historically incorrect.
It's a fool's errand to invade.
The Swiss have long chosen neutrality.
· Mar 8 at 12:29pm
If you think that the presence of the U.S. Military in Europe does not or did not deter hostile elements, then perhaps there is no arguing with you.
Well, unless you can get your facts straight, don't even try.
We're not talking about "Europe". I would agree with that. But Switzerland is not Germany, Belgium or France.
Edited on Mar 8, 2011 at 2:11pmSep '10
Re: On the Awesomeness of the Swiss
Palaeologus
The Swiss net about 1/3 the migration we do and about 1/2 of the UK per capita.
Given that it's a reasonably desirable destination, Switzerland must have pretty tight policies. · Mar 8 at 9:33am
I am unable to follow the link. Can you provide the full version?
I did find an interesting article about the Swiss population voting overwhelmingly to ban the construction of minarets on mosques.
Re: On the Awesomeness of the Swiss
I spend an awful lot of time in Switzerland. It is everything Michael says about it and more: a veritable Disneyland for adults. And, sadly, a much much more business-friendly locale than the United States in this our Age of Obama.