Insights and outlooks from abroad
E-Book, Englisch, 124 Seiten, Gewicht: 1 g
ISBN: 978-3-03810-133-8
Verlag: NZZ Libro
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- Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Kultur Staatsbürgerkunde, Staatsbürgerschaft, Zivilgesellschaft
- Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Militärwesen Theorie der Kriegsführung und Militärwissenschaft
- Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Militärwesen Nationale und Internationale Sicherheits- und Verteidigungspolitik
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02
Against the Tide
In the stranglehold of freedom-choking visible hands
Wolfgang Kasper A model liberal country in rough water
Wolfgang Schüssel In the stranglehold of freedom-choking visible hands
Wolfgang Kasper
This is written from far-away Australia by an observer of Old Europe, someone with a taste for individual freedom and civic respect, which he acquired during his primary school days in the nearby Principality of Liechtenstein. And these days I feel sorry for the Swiss. The Swiss were able to defend their freedom against tyrants, from the early Habsburgs to “Kaiser Adolf”. A resolve to stand up for their sovereignty was coupled with moral, economic and military strengths. Over the centuries, they have thus been able to develop their unique civic culture without excessive outside interference, except Bonaparte’s; and after Bony’s inglorious demise, they soon became their own self-responsible masters again. In the final analysis, this capacity was – in my opinion – based on the understanding that freedom and prosperity depend on people’s hearts, minds and customs, rather than on institutions which are decreed from the top down by governments and reliance on politico-bureaucratic elites. The Swiss have been world-class practitioners of what Edmund Burke called “human heart-based” government. What matters most in this context are trusted private property rights; the freedom to use them within the rule of law; individuality tempered by compromise and mutual, benevolent respect; as well as small, rule-bound, decentralised government. The long-term success of this moral-political design answers the question: “Why Switzerland?” Alas, the Swiss are now facing a more pernicious enemy to their traditional way of life, i.e. the collectivist bacillus emanating from the welfare states around them. These post-industrial welfare states are bankrupt. For their industrial and political elites the Helvetic Federation is an intolerable challenge and a provocation. The cartel of high-taxing governments (a.k.a. G20) cannot tolerate Swiss competition in tax policy and the quality of government services. Nor can foreign governments tolerate Swiss quality competition in the protection of banking assets. So they threaten to “send in the cavalry”, as the former German finance minister Peer Steinbrück vociferated, against the gnomes of Zurich! After all, no government can at the same time fulfil the traditional protective function and pursue growing ambitions of political redistribution. In particular, massive redistribution by confiscation-plus-subsidy and interventionism cannot be achieved if highly taxed and overregulated citizens are able to escape to places like Zurich or Zug. Politicians in Brussels, Berlin or Washington and bureaucrats in the UN, the OECD and the EU therefore impose rules that oblige all governments to tax and overregulate. “Harmonisation” has become a political spin word within the cartel of governments who want to ensure that individual property and other rights are not too well protected. The Swiss are forced to comply. The threatened sanctions would hurt, because Swiss living standards depend on trade with the other affluent nations. Sovereignty in shaping the economic and civil order is thus being progressively lost. Other governments now demand reciprocity in the tax and regulatory (mal)treatment of citizens. The Swiss are being accused of being selfish when they try to trade freely by exploiting their superior institutions. They are no longer allowed to benefit from being attractive to well-to-do tax minimisers in other countries! In this discussion, it is conveniently overlooked that the artificial structures, that are being imposed on the Swiss, only benefit the political elites of other countries, while the citizens of all countries of course benefit from free trade and free capital exchange with Switzerland. So, the successful, traditional Swiss social model is now being made impossible. Moreover, many Swiss now have lost their will to stand up and fight; indeed many have caught the welfare / redistribution virus and submit meekly! I am tempted to vary the dictum of the German poet Friedrich Schiller: “You cannot stay in freedom if it doesn’t please your evil neighbours!” A little dream In an era in which the low-cost, instant transportation of ideas has become possible, in which Amazon experiments with prompt book delivery by mini-helicopter, one is tempted to speculate about the possibility of relocating the Swiss model and those, who still cherish it, into a new, freer neighbourhood. After all, there are glorious mountains elsewhere, for example in New Zealand, and Australia has bigger snowfields… That is of course not feasible. What is, however, feasible for people in far-away places is to study Swiss institutions and Swiss history. We can be inspired by this unique historic experiment before it is completely extinguished. We can all become a little bit more Swiss. In this way, we can help the Swiss resist the stranglehold of freedom-choking visible hands in the UN, OECD and EU. The “avenir”, the future of Switzerland, should also rest in the hearts of its admirers and the friends of liberty in the world. The question therefore is not only: “Why Switzerland?”, but also: “Where Switzerland?” Wolfgang Kasper is an emeritus professor of economics at the University of New South Wales, Australia. He spent his formative years in Europe and earned a Ph.D. in international finance at the University of Kiel, Germany. He served in the staff of the German Council of Economic Advisors and as the Harvard Advisor to the Malaysian Treasurer before joining the Australian National University. He has also worked as a consultant for industry, banks and governments. “In a war everybody always knows all about Switzerland. In peace times, it is just Switzerland, but in war time it is the only country that everybody has confidence in, everybody.” Gertrude Stein A model liberal country in rough water
Wolfgang Schüssel
Switzerland is in the midst of an intensive debate about her options for the future. We Austrians watch this with great interest. When Switzerland gave up banking secrecy, a whole business model broke down. American lawsuits are a pain in the neck. After the adoption of the popular initiative against mass immigration, the question marks are growing bigger and bigger. When the Swiss National Bank (SNB) re-floated the franc in January 2015, it became evident that sovereignty can only take place within very narrow limits these days. Continuing the peg with the euro would only have been possible at disproportionate risk. At the end of 2014, the SNB balance sheet was near Swiss GDP. And who, in the age of globalisation, can seriously claim to be a “Sonderfall”, a special case? A good position Comparisons allow for confidence: Switzerland scores first in the Global Competitiveness Index computed by the World Economic Forum (2015) and holds the No. 5 position in the Global Peace Index (Institute for Economics & Peace 2015). With more than a thousand billion dollars of Swiss direct investment abroad (Schweizerische Bundesverwaltung 2014), the country secures a good position in the world economy. Ranking No. 20 in terms of GDP (International Monetary Fund 2015), Switzerland should actually be a regular member of the G20. It should not be omitted, though, that Switzerland counts no more than 0.12 per cent of the world population and 0.003 per cent of the landmass of this planet. Ever since the creation of Switzerland as we know it today, in 1848, the country’s accounting books have been impeccable. Not a single bankruptcy! What other country can claim as much? During the global financial crisis that began in 2009, Switzerland was even able to reduce debt. In most EU countries, debt increased drastically. Questions of money, as the great Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter wrote, are vital questions for nations: “Der Zustand des Geldwesens eines Volkes ist ein Symptom aller seiner Zustände” (The condition of a nation’s monetary system is a symptom of all its conditions, Schumpeter 1970, p. 1). On four pillars Will the four pillars upon which the Swiss system rests – direct democracy, federalism, neutrality and plurality of languages and cultures – provide enough stability for the future? In the 19th century, Switzerland was an “early mover”, a pioneer of many developments. In 1916, reflecting on rising pacifistic trends, Max Weber coined the term “Verschweizerung” (Swissification) and explained: “Only political communities which renounce political power are able to provide the soil on which other virtues may flourish: not only the simple, bourgeois virtues (“Bürgertugenden”) of citizenship and true democracy, which has never yet been realised in any great Machtstaat, but also much more intimate and yet eternal values, including artistic ones” (Weber 1916, p. 76). For Oswald Spengler (1933, p. 138), Switzerland was just a repulsive example of political cowardice. His contemporary Thomas Mann (1934, 1947), quite to the contrary, wished that all Europe could be “Swissified”. Due to immigration, Switzerland has become a rapidly growing community. In my childhood, we learnt that there were 5 million people in Switzerland; today, our gorgeous neighbouring country counts 8 million inhabitants – almost 25 per cent of whom don’t hold a Swiss passport (Bundesamt für Statistik 2013). This doesn’t come without conflicts, of course, as the rise of the conservative...
