ABSTRACT
One of the most striking characteristics of Germany and Austria is the enduring strength of their regional traditions. Although both modern states are centralised to the extent that they have national governments, located in Bonn (moving to Berlin by the year 2000) and Vienna, respectively, their federal structure means that many powers are devolved to the individual Länder, and many people still identify more closely with their Land than with their country. Similarly, many Swiss locate themselves socially more in relation to their home canton than to either the nation as a whole or to their ethnolinguistic group (see Chapter 2).
