History Switzerland is a home 8,000,000 people currently. In the 1291 in middle of Dark Ages and just before 100 years of war that was playing out in rest of Europe the valley from unity of the central alps made an alliance not to fight against each other. Their motto was one for all and all for one. The neighboring countries in Europe welcomed this new buffer zone because it facilitated management of trade and tourism.
The expansion increased the power and wealth of the people in the country. In 1339 Swiss blamed the Jews for starting the worst human history of killing half the population by accusing them of poisoning water wells. A program started where the Jews were burned alive at the stake and their wealth was expropriated. This spread all over Europe like a wild fire.
One of the main reasons for Switzerland to be such a peaceful country is that political parties represent all the interest groups and all their voices are heard. The CVP protects the Christian's way of life, while the GPS protects the environment. And the SVP protects Switzerland's culture, sovereignty; neutrality and its unique example to the rest of the world of the only real functioning direct democracy. Another reason is the involvement of the church.
Unlike in the other countries which have in their constitutions clauses separating the church from the state, Switzerland employs the church by giving it tax money to act like a welfare agency catching any homeless who fall through the state`s social welfare net.
Perhaps the main reason for Switzerland`s success at keeping its peace as long as it has is its unique direct democracy. While other democratic countries are democracies only on voting day when citizens delegate their democratic rights for the next 4 or 5 years to politicians, the Swiss practice direct democracy and vote on any issues that come up with immediate plebiscites.
Culture Swiss culture is very diverse as they have a wide range of traditional customs. Switzerland is strongly culturally connected to the neighboring country that shares its language. During the war in Europe Switzerland attracted a number of creative people. They are also called as a home to many brilliant contributors to art, architecture, music and science. There are over 1000 museums in the country and it has been increasing everyday. Some of the important festivals held in Switzerland every year are the Lucerne Festival, the Montreux Jazz Festival and the Locarno International Film Festival.
Lucerne festival is the summer music festival, whereas the Montreux Jazz Festival is a music festival as well celebrated in early July. But the later festival is considered to be the second largest music festival in the world after Canada’s. The Locarno International film festival is an international film festival held in August in the city of Locarno. Locarno is the festival with longest history. Moreover in some mountain areas they also have a ski resort culture, hiking or mount biking.
Media The media in Switzerland is pretty strong. They are one of the countries with the highest number of newspapers. Some of the newspapers are widely read across the borders, the Neue Zurcher Zeitung and the Journal de Genève, they are also said to have very good international coverage. “The constitution states for the freedom of speech and a free press and the government is said to support these freedoms in practice.”(Nation encyclopedia)
Sports Sports played in Switzerland are not limited. There are various sports played by the Swiss, some of them include tennis, wrestling, baseball, golf, hockey, rugby and so on. The local sports played are wrestling or “Schwingen” and is also considered national sports by some.
Geography “Switzerland extends across the north and south side of the alps in the western Europe”. Their area is about 41,285 Square kilometer with a population of 7.9 million. It lies between latitudes 45 and 48-degree north and 5 and 11 degree east. The three topographical areas are the Swiss Alps to the south, the Swiss plateau and the Jura mountains on the north. Mountain peaks are close to or higher than 4,000 meters. The highest mountain in Switzerland is the Monte Rosa and the most famous is the Matterhorn.
Economy Switzerland stands in a very good and stable place when talking about the economy. It is the world’s nineteenth largest economy by nominal GDP and the thirty-sixth largest by the purchasing power parity. It is also the twentieth largest exporter. Switzerland also has more nominal per capita GDP than larger western and central European economies and Japan. Some of the largest companies by revenue are Glencore, Gunvor and Nestle.
They have private sector economy and low tax rates by western world standard and has one of the smallest tax rates overall in the developed countries. It is an easy place to do business and their most important economic sector is manufacturing. This consists of large production of chemicals, health and pharmaceutical goods, scientific and precision measuring instruments and musical instruments.
Although everything seems perfect in Switzerland there is a rare exception to Switzerland free trade policies, which has caused the price of food, to be higher. But overall Switzerland has one of the best purchasing power in the world even though their size is small.