Imagine a country in which everyone has a say, a country which is one of the world’s richest, where everything runs like clockwork and the backdrop is made up of beautiful mountains. Is it a utopia? No, it’s Switzerland!

Picturesque Switzerland is a country of many peculiarities. It is a federal republic made up of 26 states called cantons, inhabited by around 7.5 million people. Its capital is Berne but the economic centres are Geneva and Zürich.
Switzerland has a voting system based on direct democracy. In practical terms this means that every federal and local law can be accepted or rejected via a referendum. According to estimates more referendums take place here than in every other country combined. Consequently, residents have a direct say in the laws being passed by Parliament and can influence federal laws. By calling a referendum, a group of citizens can challenge a law if they can gather 50,000 signatures within 100 days. If this is achieved a national vote is called where the result is decided by simple majority.
Unusually since 1959 the Swiss government has been made up of a coalition of four of the largest political parties. The number of executive seats each party has depends on how the vote has been divided in Parliament. This division of seats, known as the ‘magic formula’, is based upon an agreement rather than an official law.
Switzerland is a conservative country, which is emphasised by the fact that women were only granted the vote in 1970 and that was not everywhere. The state of Appenzell Innerrhoden held back the longest, only relinquishing after a high court ruling in 1990. Women quickly took up their place in politics. The first female president, Ruth Dreifuss, was elected in 1998. 

Happiness in neutrality
Switzerland rejected European Union membership via a referendum held in the early 1990s. However, the country has gradually brought itself in line with EU regulations and the government has signed many bilateral agreements with EU countries.
Switzerland takes pride in the fact it has been neutral since the Congress of Vienna held in 1815. Germany had drawn up plans to invade it during the Second World War but the country was never attacked. Switzerland remained independent, even though it was under military threat and had to make economic concessions to Germany. The country was lucky, other events
sapped up the German army’s resources, delaying an invasion. Its long standing neutrality and unshakeable banking confidentiality has established Switzerland as the financial centre of Europe, and the world.

Today 630 banks operate here, including five of the world’s largest, and the biggest stock exchange. Switzerland has a stable, modern capitalist economy. It ranked second after Ireland in the Index of Economic Freedom in 2008 and is also second in the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report.
Foreign investment has enabled the gradual development of the country’s highly specialised industry, intensive agriculture and tourism. The manufacture of very specific industrial machines is crucial in the production of things like watches, for which Switzerland is famous. Great importance is placed on the country’s biological research. Switzerland is also very proactive when it comes to recycling. It has introduced many laws encouraging recycling and prohibiting littering. Globally it leads the way in reusing waste products with 66% to 96% of the different reusable materials actually being recycled.

A cultural and language mix
Historically Switzerland has an even balance of Catholics and Protestants, though the numbers are divided very unevenly across the different regions. The larger cities such as Berne, Zürich or Basel are predominantly Protestant. Central Switzerland, as well as southern Ticino, is traditionally Catholic. A 1980 initiative calling for the complete separation of church and state was clearly rejected, with only one fifth of voters supporting the idea.
Although the Swiss do not share one language or religion they do have a common history and ideals. Switzerland lies at the crossroads of several cultures. More than half of the population speaks German, mainly in the north, east and centre of the country. French is spoken in the west and around 20% of the population can communicate in it. Italian dominates the south and is spoken by one in every ten people. The fourth national language, Romansh, is only spoken locally in the south-eastern canton of Graubünden.

It is compulsory to learn a foreign language in school, other than one of the national ones, hence most Swiss are at least bilingual.
Resident foreigners and seasonal foreign workers make up 21% of the population. Most come from the European Union with Italians being the largest single group of foreigners making up around 19% of the total foreign population. A large group is made up of people from the nations of the former Yugoslavia as well as Albania. The largest group from Asia is made up of Sri Lankans.

Inspirational hospitality
The Alps cover 60% of the country, predominantly in the central south. The most famous mountain is the Matterhorn (4478m) near the Italian border, but the highest is in fact the nearby Dufourspitze (4634m). There are many ski resorts in Switzerland which come alive in the winter while in the summer they are used by mountain climbers and walking groups. Tourists visit all year round but the spring and autumn months are generally quieter.
Landlocked Switzerland is famous for its lakes. The most picturesque are found in the west, in a region often referred to as ‘Seeland’ (the land of lakes). The largest lake is Lake Geneva, also called Lac Léman. The Rhone River is its main tributary.

The more populous northern part, which makes up about a third of the country’s total area, is called the Middle Land. It is partly covered by forests and is characteristic for its hilly landscape on which fruit and vegetables are grown and animals graze. Traditional farming can be seen in many regions and it seems to hold the country together. Agriculture and a love of the land are very important. Although the number of individual farms is dropping some do still exist.
Fondue is a traditional Swiss speciality, made from melted cheese. Swiss cheese like Gruyere or Emmental is melted in a special pot and pepper, garlic, white wine or cherry liqueur can be added. Fresh bread is then dipped into the melted cheese. Apart from its cheese Switzerland boasts delicious chocolate and beer.

Switzerland’s friendly atmosphere and beautiful scenery have attracted many prestigious visitors. It inspired Albert Einstein, who formulated the theory of relativity while working at the Swiss Patent Office in Berne. Over the years other visitors have arrived. Friedrich Nietzsche was a professor at a Swiss university, while Lenin lived here during the First World War. Switzerland also had its own eminent names such as Carl Gustav Jung, the celebrated psychiatrist and psychologist.
Numerous organisations have made their home in Switzerland because of the country’s long standing neutrality. These include the Red Cross and the World Trade Organisation while the United Nations has one of its two European offices here. Today an increasing number of famous sports figures choose to live here in order to avoid the high taxes payable in their own countries.