Mark Meek's Ideas: Switzerland

If ever there was a positive example of the "Resource Curse", it is Switzerland. The Resource Curse, also known as the "Paradox of Plenty" is the phenomenon in which people in nations that are blessed with abundant natural resources and advantages actually tend to end up being worse off than people in apparently less-fortunate nations.

What often happens is that the governments of the resource-rich lands will use the wealth to exert control over the populace and to keep themselves in power. Meanwhile, people in the resource-poor lands are forced to develop their knowledge and skills to make up for the resource disadvantage. The governments of the resource-poor lands are more dependent on the will of the people to stay in power, and thus are more likely to be democracies.

It is not so much that Switzerland is poor in resources but that it is surrounded by high mountains, and thus cut off from the rest of the world. This forced the Swiss people to be enterprising and to apply ingenuity. That meant producing portable but high-value goods that could be exported over the mountains.

Switzerland became known for the production of precision instruments, traditionally clocks and watches. Two of the best-known Swiss companies today are financial, Credit Suisse and UBS Bank. The people of Switzerland today have close to the highest average income in the world.

The country was formed by a number of small states in the mountains that joined together as cantons. Switzerland actually uses four languages. There is German, French and, Italian, and also the language known as Romansh.

Switzerland is also known internationally for it's enforced neutrality in war. That certainly does not mean that it is defenseless as the army has an important role in society, soldiers in the reserves keep their guns at home, and the mountains of the country host extensive bunkers and tunnels for use in case of attack.

The neutrality has led many international organizations to base their headquarters in Switzerland. The best-known is the Red Cross. Notice how the symbol of the Red Cross is the inverse of the Swiss flag.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Switzerland#/media/File:Flag_of_Switzerland.svg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Red_Cross_and_Red_Crescent_Movement#/media/File:Croixrouge_logos.jpg

Geneva, in the far west of Switzerland, dates back to ancient times. It is a focal point for international organizations and meetings. It gives it's name to the Geneva Convention, concerning the treatment of prisoners of war.

Geneva became the center of the Protestant movement after the Reformation. The best-known Protestant leader of this time was John Calvin. During the religious upheaval in England, between Anglicans and Puritans, an English translation of the Bible was produced in Geneva. The Geneva Bible was for a long time the most important translation of the Bible and it took a long time for the King James Bible to catch up to it, as we saw in the posting on this blog "Hampton Court Palace And The King James Bible" July 2016.

The following look at Geneva begins outside it's cathedral. Being close to France, this part of Switzerland speaks French. The first two images are from Google Earth and Street View.

There are multiple scenes following. To see the scenes, after the first one, you must first click the up arrow ^, before you can move on to the next scene by clicking the right or forward arrow, >, After clicking the up arrow, you can then hide the previews of successive scenes, if you wish.

https://www.google.com/maps/@46.2013789,6.1479766,2a,75y,180h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s6XPznppI6qacVi9fo4n2Sw!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3D6XPznppI6qacVi9fo4n2Sw%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D249.44672%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656?entry=ttu

The city of Lausanne is of Roman origin and is on the same lake as Geneva. The first three images, from Google Earth and Street View, are of Lausanne Cathedral.

https://www.google.com/maps/@46.5227844,6.6355266,3a,75y,99.16h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipO3EFtsSPFUXjkYY72rU-qfmcm2jT6ISQbm3013!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipO3EFtsSPFUXjkYY72rU-qfmcm2jT6ISQbm3013%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi0-ya358.19116-ro-0-fo100!7i11264!8i3664?hl=en

Bern is the capital city of Switzerland. The clock tower in the old part of Bern is called the Zytglogge, and was constructed in the 12th Century. Albert Einstein, a native of neighboring Germany, was working as a patent clerk in Bern, while wondering about how the universe really worked. One day, the Zytglogge led Einstein to a flash of insight.

Wondering what would happen if the streetcar was moving away from the clock tower at the speed of light, Einstein realized that the clock on the tower would appear to be frozen in time, while Einstein's watch would be keeping time as usual. It was thus this clock tower which inspired the Special Theory of Relativity, which was published in 1905.

The first two images, from Google Earth and Street View, is of Bern and the Zytglogge.

https://www.google.com/maps/@46.947987,7.4485938,3a,75y,262.76h,102.36t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipOgDq-knPXF5l_pL9fq37ab7hhXH585OigsMI0T!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipOgDq-knPXF5l_pL9fq37ab7hhXH585OigsMI0T%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi0-ya6.237302-ro-0-fo100!7i8704!8i4352?hl=en

This is a residential area of Bern.

https://www.google.com/maps/@46.9320791,7.4166426,3a,75y,280h,100t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sWyu2cm5rc6Gw4AqDHRiHFw!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo0.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DWyu2cm5rc6Gw4AqDHRiHFw%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D280%26pitch%3D-10%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en

Basel is another city that originated in ancient times, and is on the border with Germany. The first two images are from Google Earth.

https://www.google.com/maps/@47.5560451,7.5901833,3a,75y,89.82h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1ssIE41ZSHlKthkGY2ywjdcg!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo3.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DsIE41ZSHlKthkGY2ywjdcg%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D89.73551%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en

Here is the city of Lucerne. The first image is from Google Earth.

https://www.google.com/maps/@47.0491778,8.3069983,3a,75y,79.06h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sCCaxfB_ZUqv0l2Ytah42jA!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo0.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DCCaxfB_ZUqv0l2Ytah42jA%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D74.16895%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en

Zurich is Switzerland's largest city. The following views begin at the Grossmunster. It is the large church with the twin towers. At the beginning of the Reformation, Huldrych Zwingli was a pastor at the Grossmunster, who was advocating the need for reform in the Catholic Church. Zwingli would end up being the Swiss counterpart of Martin Luther. These were the two best-known figures of the first generation of the Reformation. John Calvin, mentioned above in Geneva, was the best-known figure of the next generation.

The first scene, of the Grossmunster, is from Google Earth. The second scene, of Zurich, is from a drone on Google Street View.