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Switzerland is effectively a mono-culture, and that culture happens to be effective, efficient, etc. It's sort of like Mormons or Swedes. The govt form doesn'
by anamax 1y ago
Switzerland is effectively a mono-culture, and that culture happens to be effective, efficient, etc.
It's sort of like Mormons or Swedes. The govt form doesn't matter because success is baked in and govt is just for coordination, coordination that can happen without govt.
- laurencerowe 1y agoIs Switzerland really a monoculture when different parts of the country speak different languages?
- margalabargala 1y agoYes. Those parts all still consider themselves more Swiss than French/German/Italian.
- laurencerowe 1y agoI wonder to what extent that identity is more complex than just being Swiss though? The Geneva metro area sprawls across the border with large numbers of workers commuting in from France. French and Flemish speaking Belgians would no doubt consider themselves more Belgian than French or Dutch but there are still substantial cultural differences within Belgium.
- rurban 1y agoJust look at Swiss TV dramas. They are a unwatchable, even worse than those of their neighbors. So why is their TV so bad, when they do have much better authors than their neighbors? The movie films are a bit better, but only a bit. I blame the TV producers, which sank into the social causes pudding. There cannot be any good art if everything is checked and balanced. Death by committee. In Germany they had similar problems but got out of this mess.
- solace_silence 1y agoI always hear people bring places like Sweden up as though it derives its prosperity from being an ethnostate. Around 25% of residents were born outside Sweden and about a third have foreign born parents. Really not so different than some of the most successful U.S. states.
- dgb23 1y agoThat’s not true at all. Over 25% of the population are foreigners and over 40% of citizens have a immigration background. Immigrants often become more Swiss than traditional residents, whether they are from Albania, Italy, Turkey or Germany (these some of the largest groups). In fact we have a more heterogenous, multicultural and multilingual country than most other western nations. And it was like that since basically forever. That’s why decentralization, federalism, neutrality are deemed so important I think.