Multicultural and Cosmopolitan Switzerland Newsletters

Republican Switzerland and the Seven United Provinces

22 September 2020

The book ‘ The Republican Alternative. The Netherlands and Switzerland compared’ (A. Holenstein, Th. Maissen, M. Prak (eds), Amsterdam 2008), is the result of the workshop on 7-9 May 2004, organised by the University of Bern. These two confederal republics of early modern Europe (1500-1795) were composed of (thirteen) independent cantons and powerful cities (Switzerland) … Read more » “Republican Switzerland and the Seven United Provinces”

The Röstigraben

15 July 2020

The 26 cantons that makeup Switzerland have always been religiously, linguistically and economically different. However, after 1848 (and after the Sonderbundskrieg of 1847) religion is no longer a matter of political dispute. The language borders are a serious dividing line, however, especially between the Romandie (six (mostly) French-speaking cantons in western Switzerland, and the (mostly) … Read more » “The Röstigraben”

Multilingual Switzerland

7 July 2020

“Les langues ne sont pas neutres. Elles incarnent des cultures, elles imprègnent les mentalités, elles engendrent des affinités, elles aiguillonnent des susceptibilités, elles expriment des sensibilités, elles traduisent des manières de raisonner, de penser, de vivre et elles influencent et déterminent même la conception que les citoyens ont du rôle de l’État par rapport aux … Read more » “Multilingual Switzerland”