ABSTRACT
With an areal extension of 41,284 km2, Switzerland is a small country in the heart of Europe, surrounded by Germany, France, Italy and Austria. Culturally, it is divided into four parts, each part oriented to these surrounding powers. As a consequence, Switzerland is multi-lingual (German, French, Italian and Romanish), multi-confessional (Protestant and Catholic cantons), and politically structured in three levels: the federation, the cantons, and the municipalities. The foundation of the nation state, the Confoederatio Helvetica, in 1848 brought a national level to the area of the former looser federation, but the cantons remained strong. One of the important features on the national level was the common foreign and trade policy, theoretically following liberal ideals, practically coined by state intervention sometimes.
