LES INCIDENCES POLITIQUES DU PLURILINGUISME

In: Res publica: politiek-wetenschappelijk tijdschrift van de Lage Landen ; driemaandelijks tijdschrift, Volume 4, Issue 3, p. 259-270

Abstract

The relation between language & po1 in Switzerland is characterized by the fact that language frontiers do not correspond to religious or econ ones, & that the democratic ideal is deeply embedded in Swiss society. Linguistic harmony is explained also by the flourishing of newspapers in all nat'l languages. The linguistic factor does not influence interior pol, notably in the org of pol'al forces. At the most one can note a tendency to extreme rightism in French-speaking Switzerland, & a sympathy for the left in German-speaking Switzerland, tendencies which have been reversed in the last few yrs. In the course of the 200 referenda which have been going on in Switzerland since 1848, the German group took a conformist att, while the French group often found itself among the opposition. In foreign pol, French Switzerland opposed militarism in WWI, but in WWII there was considerable unity. On the whole, the equilibrium of linguistic groups & their fusion in the federal framework have improved rather than hampered pol. Tr & modified from IPSA by A. Chapman.