Swiss Made

Swiss Made
Author: R. James Breiding
Publisher: Profile Books
Total Pages: 751
Release: 2013-01-10
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1847658091

Why has Switzerland - a tiny, land-locked country with few natural advantages - become so successful for so long at so many things? In banking, pharmaceuticals, machinery, even textiles, Swiss companies rank alongside the biggest and most powerful global competitors. How did they get there? How do they continue to refresh themselves? Does the Swiss 'Sonderfall' (special case) provide lessons others can learn and benefit from? Can the Swiss continue to perform in a hyper-competitive global economy? Swiss Made offers answers to these and many other questions about the country as it describes the origins, structures and characteristics of the most important Swiss companies. The authors suggest success is due to a large degree to sound entrepreneurial thinking and an openness to new ideas. And they venture a surprising forecast on the country's ability to keep pace in an age of globalisation.

Why Switzerland?

Why Switzerland?
Author: Jonathan Steinberg
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 405
Release: 2015-11-19
Genre: History
ISBN: 0521883075

Revised and completely updated edition of Jonathan Steinberg's classic account of Switzerland's unique political and economic system. Why Switzerland? examines the complicated voting system that allows citizens to add, strike out, or vote more than once for candidates, with extremely complicated systems of proportional representation; a collective and consensual executive leadership in both state and church; and the creation of the Swiss idea of citizenship, with tolerance of differences of language and religion, and a perfectionist bureaucracy which regulates the well-ordered society. This third edition tries to test the flexibility of the Swiss way of politics in the globalized world, social media, the huge expansion of money in world circulation and the vast tsunamis of capital which threaten to swamp it. Can the complex machinery that has maintained Swiss institutions for centuries survive globalization, neo-liberalism and mass migration from poor countries to rich ones?

A Concise History of Switzerland

A Concise History of Switzerland
Author: Clive H. Church
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 325
Release: 2013-05-23
Genre: History
ISBN: 1107244196

Despite its position at the heart of Europe and its quintessentially European nature, Switzerland's history is often overlooked within the English-speaking world. This comprehensive and engaging history of Switzerland traces the historical and cultural development of this fascinating but neglected European country from the end of the Dark Ages up to the present. The authors focus on the initial Confederacy of the Middle Ages; the religious divisions which threatened it after 1500 and its surprising survival amongst Europe's monarchies; the turmoil following the French Revolution and conquest, which continued until the Federal Constitution of 1848; the testing of the Swiss nation through the late nineteenth century and then two World Wars and the Depression of the 1930s; and the unparalleled economic and social growth and political success of the post-war era. The book concludes with a discussion of the contemporary challenges, often shared with neighbours, that shape the country today.

Slow Train to Switzerland

Slow Train to Switzerland
Author: Diccon Bewes
Publisher: Hachette UK
Total Pages: 243
Release: 2013-11-07
Genre: Travel
ISBN: 1857889762

A travel diary from 1863 inspires author Diccon Bewes to retrace Thomas Cook's historic train trip that revolutionized tourism forever.

Between the Alps and a Hard Place

Between the Alps and a Hard Place
Author: Angelo M. Codevilla
Publisher: Regnery Publishing
Total Pages: 266
Release: 2000-09-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 089526238X

Switzerland's "neutrality" is fully examined and challenged in this groundbreaking study of the economics underpinning the political in that country's successful non-alignment policies.

The Radical Right in Switzerland

The Radical Right in Switzerland
Author: Damir Skenderovic
Publisher: Berghahn Books
Total Pages: 489
Release: 2009-09-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 1845459482

There has been a tendency amongst scholars to view Switzerland as a unique case, and comparative scholarship on the radical right has therefore shown little interest in the country. Yet, as the author convincingly argues, there is little justification for maintaining the notion of Swiss exceptionalism, and excluding the Swiss radical right from cross-national research. His book presents the first comprehensive study of the development of the radical right in Switzerland since the end of the Second World War and therefore fills a significant gap in our knowledge. It examines the role that parties and political entrepreneurs of the populist right, intellectuals and publications of the New Right, as well as propagandists and militant groups of the extreme right assume in Swiss politics and society. The author shows that post-war Switzerland has had an electorally and discursively important radical right since the 1960s that has exhibited continuity and persistence in its organizations and activities. Recently, this has resulted in the consolidation of a diverse Swiss radical right that is now established at various levels within the political and public arena.

Festivals & Traditions in Switzerland

Festivals & Traditions in Switzerland
Author: Barbara Piatti
Publisher: NorthSouth Books
Total Pages: 96
Release: 2020-10-06
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 073584416X

Fire and fur, bells and masks! This book takes you on a very special journey through Switzerland to experience the traditional festivals and customs celebrated in all the seasons. Some are happy and colorful, others are wild and scary. You’ll hear the thunderous noise made by bell-ringers and brass bands at Carnival. You’ll see Hom Strom and his pillar of fire burning in the night sky. You’ll meet a real Pschuurirolli—half human, half wild beast—and the dreadful Tschäggäta with their terrifying masks. On the journey, you’ll also encounter shepherds, rifle queens, and men dressed as trees. At the bull market in Zug, you’ll place a bet on the fastest pig; and in the Jura region, you’ll admire the horse riders as they race bareback over the track. You’ll even find out why the Griffin goes as far as baring his behind in Basel. You’ll be surprised. And you’ll laugh. And you just might be a little frightened, too. Are you ready? This unique collection is a fascinating treat for the whole family.