The Culture and History of Switzerland (Essay Sample)

The Culture and History of Switzerland
Name:
University:
Role of Alps in shaping both the culture and history of Switzerland
In Switzerland, the three major languages of the Europe as a continent and cultures are used. These are the French, Germany, and Italian languages (are all national languages of the country) inclusive of Romansh, which is used by a small minority. This phenomenon explains the diversity of the Swiss culture that manifests in the various traditional customs (Maissen, 2015). However, Alps have played a significant role in shaping not only the culture but also the history of Switzerland. In the early 14 century, Gotthard Pass had emerged as the epicenter of Swiss Confederacy. Currently, all the mountain areas of the country have both strong mountaineering and skiing culture. Interestingly, the culture is related to folk arts (yodeling and alphorn). Nevertheless, there are other icons that denote the Swiss culture such as the Swiss cheese, Swiss chocolate, Swiss Army Knife, Watches, and cowbell (Bendix & Hasan-Rokem, 2012).
Creation of Swiss Confederation
The main principle that characterizes the country's political system is that the citizens have the highest political authority in the states of Swiss. They have the leverage of conveying their opinion at the levels such as communal, cantonal, and federal. Moreover, they can not only vote on different issues but also elect representatives to the Federal Assembly (Swiss Community, 2015).
Response to question 3
The geopolitics and geography of the Swiss sustained and allowed a tension-laden but poly centricity that was effective. The cantons stubbornly, on autonomy, canalized the attempts, as well as, state-building into a league mode of association instead of centralizing the unitary state model. The ultimate sovereignty neither depends on the citizen nor in some of the universal central principles though it will depend on the autonomous communities. It can be explained by the difference of in the democratic process of this country in comparison to other democracies. It has a direct democracy where the citizens influence government activities directly through either referenda or initiatives. In the federalism, the constitutional powers are citizen-centered as well as the cantons. Moreover, they have a consociational democracy where the cantonal majority rules. Cantons that are small have equal weight to those that are big (Swiss Community, 2015).
Response to question 4
In my opinion, the culture and color character of the Zurich, Geneva, and Basel relatively differ. It can be attributed to the cantons firmly anchors culture of the citizens. These cities are important facets of cultural identity as they contribute to the cultural and social substance towards the maintenance of the nation that is polycentric. Moreover, the dynamics of these cities have been quite different inclusive of the majority of their dwellers (Swiss Community, 2015).
Huldrich Zwingli the reformer
Huldrich Zwingli was a leader of Switzerland's reformation of the Catholic Church.His ideas were geared towards reforming the Roman Catholic Church. The reformist movements however encountered resistance from several cantons. His role in the Protestant Reformation entailed publication...