The Netherlands and Switzerland Compared

28 April 2022

The Netherlands and Switzerland are among the world’s most successful societies. The foundation for their prosperity was laid in the early modern period, between roughly 1500 and 1800, when, as federal republics, the two countries were an anomaly in Europe.

The Republican Alternative attempts to clarify, through a sustained comparison, the distinct character of the two countries, which were similar perhaps at first glance, but developed their solutions to the challenges they faced.

The book includes in-depth discussions of citizenship, religious pluralism, political discourses justifying the republican form of government, the economy and trade, art and politics, sovereignty from the perspective of the independent provinces and cantons, or the Republic of the United Netherlands, respectively, as well as the Confederation of Cantons (Eidgenossenschaft).

A. Holenstein, Th. Maissen, M. Prak (eds.). The Republican Alternative. The Netherlands and Switzerland Compared, Amsterdam, 2008.