The city-led Republic
The Swiss Confederation was a functioning composite polity, but it was not a state and of course, it was not a monarchy. Yet the Confederation embraced territories that retained a feudal-hierarchical structure, albeit only as associated members (the abbacies of Engelberg and St. Gallen, the prince-bishopric of Basel, the county of Neuchâtel). How, therefore, did the Confederation survive?
Before the Burgundian Wars (1474-1477) no one gave the Confederation much chance of survival. Yet these wars did help to create a sense of collective identity manifest not in institutions but in patriotic narratives of Swiss valour and heroism of city-led republic. This vision was shattered in the Swiss wars of religion, but in the end, pragmatism and flexibility ensured that the discord did not lead to disaster. Ultimately, aggression yielded to accommodation. (T. Scott, The Swiss and Their Neighbours 1460-1560. Between Accommodation and Aggression, Oxford 2017).
Direct Democracy
Direct democracy means much more than occasionally consulting the public. In a sense, each voting citizen is a politician and politically active, just to different degrees. Direct democracy is an embracive, relatively confusing, sometimes time-consuming, delicately balanced, permanently rotating and constantly changing mechanism, whose purpose is to include in the decision-making process all those who must live with the consequences of the decision. It is of immense value, but only functions when everyone who wants to be a part of it has an idea how it functions. W. Thurnherr, The Swiss Confederation. A Brief Guide 2018. Bern, 2018.
Crossroads
Charlemagne´s imperial coronation on Christmas Day 800 symbolized the revival of a Roman vision of imperium, not merely in title but in substance as well. Charlemagne ruled practically the whole of Latin Christendom, and a sequence of reform initiatives generated much greater Christian uniformity across the Latin West. And all of this at the command of Carolingian emperors, not of Roman popes. The great imperially sponsored monasteries, such as St. Gall, and the schools established in households of the (arch) bishoprics were the intellectual centres through which a real unity in the western Church was built up. (P. Heather, ´From Constantine to Charlemagne´ in M. Bormpoudaki a.o. (Eds.), Crossroads, Amsterdam 2017).
Rhetia, Alemania, Swabia and Swiss Confederation
Swabia emerged from the region as Alemania after the Alemanni, who occupied what would later be Alsace, Baden, Württemberg and most of Switzerland, which was then still often referred to by its Roman name of Rhetia. Civic leagues were a response to the threats posed by (Habsburg) lords and princes. Central and western Switzerland saw the development of incorporated valleys (Talschaften), which in turn formed the basis of what were later called cantons. The Swiss Confederation went further by separating from the Empire as an independent state, establishing what is widely interpreted as one of modern world´s first democracies. (. (P-H. Wilson, Heart of Europe. A History of the Holy Roman Empire, Cambridge (MA), 2016).
Swiss Federalism
The Swiss are justly famous for their political institutions and practices. Swiss federalism is both absolute and relative at the same time. None of the overlapping and irregular jurisdictions would have seemed odd to anybody who knew Europe before the French Revolution. Enclaves and exclaves occurred all over the map and especially among the many sovereignties of the Holy Roman Empire. The French with their obsession with uniformity, equality and centralisation impressed their ideals on modern consciousness. Swiss politics combines in a unique amalgam the surviving bits of the old Empire infused with modern practices of popular sovereignty from below. J. Steinberg, Why Switzerland ?, Cambridge 2015).
Why Switzerland ?
Why Switzerland, how it was that a nation-state, characterized by direct-democratic decision-making and by hesitation to follow the political norms of the neighbours, emerged, distant from the Italian city-states, the French Monarchy, and the empires that became Austria en Germany? Neither dynasty, nor language, nor religion brought about a national identity that could bolster a Swiss political nation. Instead, Switzerland seems in an important sense the result of its inhabitants´ own decisions, a nation resting on its habitants´ will, and of its own and its neighbours´ willingness to accept its various forms through the centuries as a political unit. (C.H. Church, R. C. Head, A Concise History of Switzerland, Cambridge 2017).
The Old Confederation
The Swiss Confederation had a federal system that has been operating longer than any other in world history. In circa 1500, probably nobody would have dared to bet on the longevity of the Swiss Confederation, considering its location in the centre of Europe; its small size, its small population, which was estimated at circa 600 000 in 1 500 and some 1.6 million in 1800, and its particularly weak political structure, which lacked any kind of strong dynastic centre. And yet it somehow ended up being one of the most durable confederations in the history of the world. A. Würgler, ´How the Old Swiss Confederation Operated´, in A. Holenstein, Th. Maissen, M. Prak (Eds.), The Republican Alternative, Amsterdam 2008).
Switzerland´s Survival
It is unwise to search for the key to Switzerland´s survival primarily in institutional advances, but also in a sense of collective identity, pragmatism and flexibility. If in the aftermath of World War II, the Swiss were plagued by anxiety because they overestimated themselves as survivors amidst the chaos of Europe, today that unease has returned in the face of Europe once again in crisis. Switzerland, for so long proud of its rugged singularity, once regarded as the key to its survival, now finds it hard to adjust in a globalized world where Europe increasingly resembles a league of discordant members. Will the Swiss be able to rise to these new challenges ? (T. Scott, The Swiss and their Neighbours, Oxford 2017).
Swiss History and Art
Swiss Art is like Swiss food, which at its best is excellent but has many of the characteristics borrowed from neighbours. Its art and artists are similarly cosmopolitan with a native strain of distinct roots, most notably the colourful past, the confederation, the wars of independence or the Alpine scenery. Until fairly recently there was no such thing as Swiss, as distinct from cantonal, history – just as until 1848 there was no such thing as Switzerland as a unitary state. Swiss history is made up of the histories of the 26 (half) cantons most of which until the middle of the 19th century led their own political and cultural existences. (W. Scott, Pictures at an Exhibition. An introduction to Swiss History and Art, Geneva, 2007).
The Heroic Swiss
Three men from the cantons of Schwyz, Uri and Unterwalden met secretly on the plateau of Grütli above the Urner lake and pledged that they and their kin would help each other against external threats. This was in 1291 and it marks the foundation of the Swiss foundation. The immediate threat came from the House of Habsburg. The alliance of 1291 was reaffirmed and strengthened after the battle of Morgarten in 1315, becoming the legal basis for relations among the cantons until 1798. (W. Scott, Pictures at an Exhibition. An introduction to Swiss History and Art, Genève, 2007).
