Comparing and Contrasting: the Swiss Confederation and Yugoslavia

[poiuytrewq0987]

I have always asked myself about Switzerland. What did they do that we did not do? How did they succeed with Switzerland when we failed with Yugoslavia?

Switzerland is a multi-ethnic nation that speaks three (four if you count vulgar Latin) languages and is split between Roman Catholicism and Calvinist Protestantism. The only element that's missing is Islam. We had a lot of Muslims in Yugoslavia, a leftover of 500 years of Ottoman rule.

Despite internal differences in language and culture, they managed to unite and create a confederation in Switzerland. How did they manage to succeed when we failed?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9f/Map_Languages_CH.png/800px-Map_Languages_CH.png

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f7/Karte_Religionen_der_Schweiz_2008.png/800px-Karte_Religionen_der_Schweiz_2008.png

http://www.rastko.rs/istorija/srbi-balkan/img/fry4b.jpg

[Odoacer]

Kings, fascists, Muslims, & communists.

Switzerland: 0 for 4.
Yugoslavia: 4 for 4.

Okay, that's grossly oversimplified, yet not without some truth I think. ;)

[Loddfafner]

Simple. Tito politically infantilized his citizens. After his death, they reverted to the most primitive form of nationalism.

[Monolith]

How did they manage to succeed when we failed?
Because this 'we' was not a result of some common tradition but was created and sustained artificially. And even then it had tremendous opposition. That anomaly died with Tito and the road was open for previously suppressed national sentiment to tear the ex-state into pieces.

You can't force people to live with each others if they don't like each others. Your fascination with Yugoslavia is becoming pathological.

[Wild North]

The only other country in Europe apart from Switzerland, having cantons, would be Bosnia-Herzegovina (part of former Yugoslavia).