Episode 35- Why Switzerland Works: Local Power, Global Calm. with Marc Finaud

What does a country look like when trust is designed into its politics, not wished for? We wrap our Switzerland series with diplomat and longtime Geneva resident Marc Finaud to explore how a small, multilingual federation turned subsidiarity into a superpower—building prosperity, safety, and civic calm from the commune upward. Instead of top‑down decrees, the Swiss rely on direct democracy, frequent referendums, and cantonal autonomy that ties spending to local decisions. You vote for the playground—and you fund it. That clarity changes behavior, lowers political temperature, and makes government feel close to home.

We dig into the realities behind the reputation. Marc explains why Switzerland remains a magnet for immigrants, how Geneva and Zurich complement each other—finance and diplomacy on one side, tech and life sciences on the other—and why universities thrive with autonomy, industry partnerships, and a pragmatic stance on culture-war flashpoints. We unpack the health care model: compulsory basic coverage via regulated private insurers, optional top‑ups, and targeted subsidies that protect access while preserving choice. Then we walk through the pension “three pillars,” an elegant blend of universality, shared contributions, and voluntary savings that keeps the social floor firm without dulling personal responsibility.

Perhaps most striking is the social fabric: national service that mixes citizens across backgrounds, strict yet sensible firearm rules paired with strong community norms, and public officials who ride trains without entourages. In a world addicted to spectacle, Switzerland defaults to competence. The result is a country that manages immigration, sustains high wages, supports research and innovation, and still treats politics as a shared project. If you’re looking for lessons your city or country can adapt—from local control and fiscal transparency to service programs that build cohesion—this conversation offers a practical roadmap.

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Transcript

Setting The Swiss Finale

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to the Greenfield Report with Henry A. Greenfield, your gateway to understanding today's geopolitical landscape. With 50 years of experience across 10 countries, Henry shares expert insights on world affairs, offering practical solutions and engaging guest perspectives. Dive into the Greenfield Report for lively discussions on the issues that matter.

SPEAKER_02 0:24

This is Henry R. Greenfield, back with our final episode on Switzerland and the Swiss difference. We are concluding our multi-part series today with one of our old friends and previous contributors to the Greenfield Report, that you may remember, Mr. Mark Fino. Mark, as you recall, is originally from France, has been a diplomat his entire career in Europe, the Middle East, including Israel, Australia, and for the past couple of decades or more, he has been domiciled in Geneva, Switzerland. However, to track Mark down for this special Greenfield report, we have had to reach out all the way to Kazakhstan, where Mark is attending a conference. I mean, I thought I was global, but now this in his eighth decade, Mark continues to work hard on nuclear non-proliferation, which has been his lifelong pursuit. Welcome back, Mark. And for our listeners who may not be following all of your efforts on the other end of the weapons front, can you tell us what are you doing in Kazakhstan? I mean it's a long ways away from Switzerland.

SPEAKER_01 1:34

Yes, uh, thank you very much,

Mark Fino’s Mission in Kazakhstan

SPEAKER_01 1:36

Robert. Uh it's nice to be back uh in chat with you. Uh well, actually, I'm uh as you know, since I retired, I remain active as a consultant. So I'm a consultant with the government of Kazakhstan because the the president uh launched an initiative uh to the uh UN General Assembly to establish an international agency for biosecurity. As you know, there is an uh a treaty, a convention to ban biological weapons dating back to 1972. But uh contrary to other treaties on nuclear weapons or chemical weapons, this one doesn't have a verification uh system. So it was based on good faith. But uh over the years, of course, it realized that there were new risks, new threats, including from terrorists, and that perhaps we needed to uh beef up this convention to institutionalize it. And this is what we are discussing in Kazakhstan.

SPEAKER_02 2:39

Wow, thanks, Mark. We would love to have you back to discuss this in more detail when you return to Geneva. But if I uh got that right beforehand, you might not be in Geneva anymore. You are somewhere else in Switzerland now?

SPEAKER_01 2:53

Yes, I actually moved uh to the mountains, the Canton of Valley, with, you know, which has uh many nice uh ski resorts. Uh so we really uh enjoyed the change being in the mountains, sometimes over the the clouds that remain in the valleys.

SPEAKER_02 3:12

So let's set the stage for what we have been doing at the Greenfield Report in the last couple of weeks or so, and our time in Switzerland. And while we are so happy that you are here because we have been mostly in the German-speaking area or the Swiss German-speaking area, and we really have not had that French side of the country, Geneva and the far west of the country. Here is our view, Mark, and why we are doing this. And you can correct us at any time if you think we are off. Well, we believe in

Why Switzerland Attracts Immigrants

SPEAKER_02 3:45

what we have found after studying, visiting, speaking to locals and expatriates, Switzerland can teach us a lot and also teach a great deal to the rest of the world. So let's start very simply. Do you agree with that or not?

SPEAKER_01 3:59

Yes, um uh we can say that. It's it's very often now uh mentioned as an example, as a model of a successful uh system, political regime, um you know, uh very complex uh but based on the principle of decentralization. It's a federal state like the United States, and by the way, it's it's its constitution, the first constitution uh dating back to uh 1848 was very much inspired uh by the US uh experience, the US Constitution. So we we can discuss this again. But yes, today when you consider the the functioning of the political system and the uh economic uh achievements, you could consider that it's it's really a very successful model.

SPEAKER_02 4:53

Thanks for that. I'm glad you uh you agreed because otherwise we would have had a very short episode or it would have gone a very different direction. So I'm glad that you agree that we can learn uh a great deal from Switzerland. So today, what we'd like to explore at the next level, beyond, by the way, social cohesion, and uh I believe that that's quite important in Switzerland. In other words, people always doing the right thing, to some uh more specifics. The first is why did you decide as an expat to make Switzerland your permanent home and not return to France? I know this is a tough one, but both you and your amazing wife have both chosen Switzerland over returning home. I mean, maybe uh not a tough choice, I guess, as right now over here in France, we don't seem to be able to have a government for now. What are we down to? A few weeks at a time? A country uh that is supremely blessed with every resource that seems to be going bankrupt. So is that never gonna happen in Switzerland, Mark?

SPEAKER_01 5:59

Well, actually, uh there are many reasons why people move uh to Switzerland. And actually, uh perhaps this is not so much uh known overseas, but uh actually Switzerland has one of the highest rates of immigration, uh, certainly in Europe, but perhaps also in the world, because it it's 20% of its uh current population um of about uh between eight and nine million are foreigners. And uh over the years, Switzerland has also assimilated a lot of uh immigrants who came from all over the world and who became Swiss because they precisely were attracted by this model of stability, democracy, equality, uh, a sort of combination of economic uh neoliberalism with a lot of freedom to uh for enterprise to invest and uh for trade, but at the same time a lot of uh social benefits, social um you know um safety nets in case of uh problems like uh unemployment, uh uh, etc. And so this this mix uh has been uh very attractive. And this basically,

Choosing Switzerland Over France

SPEAKER_01 7:20

you you mentioned uh my case, case of my family, uh it was purely accidental. Uh first of all, I was posted a first time in Switzerland, uh, and I really appreciated living there for five years. And then I went back to the diplomatic uh um network. Uh um and but then we had a chance to come back uh in 2004, and uh for a few more years I I continued to work for the French uh government as uh as a diplomat, but then gradually I I felt that uh this is the the best place where we we could decide to live. And that's why I took an earlier retirement and I decided to stay. I got this contract with this uh um Swiss Foundation, and uh after a couple of years also decided to become Swiss, to acquire the Swiss citizenship, which uh at that time was I would say fairly easy. You only needed 12 years of residence, and uh and they counted the years as diplomats, which uh not very many countries do. Um and then uh you had to go through an exam to show how you know what's your project, how how well you are integrated, how well you know Switzerland, and uh and and so we passed that, uh, and then we were uh made citizens first of our um commune, you know, that's the local level, then approved at the level of the canton, that's the equivalent of American states, and then the federal level uh that could prevent that from happening if they had any reason, like uh you know, um criminal activities or something like that. And um actually our son uh went through that process even earlier because he was going to a Swiss school, so he didn't have to go through this exam. And uh and he really wanted to um uh do his military service, which is part of the Swiss uh citizenship, uh, because as a French citizen, he could just avoid that. You know, there's just one day of information about the military, and that's it. But in Switzerland, it's one year conscription, uh, and then you can stay on uh if you want to become an uh officer, which which he did. So in a nutshell, we we really appreciated the way of living, the quality of life, uh, the high standard, if you like, of course, which has a cost. Basically, um cost of living is higher than many other countries, but at the same time, the wages are much higher, and that's why you have a lot of uh uh French, German, Italian people who live uh on the borders of Switzerland and come to work in Switzerland because they they lack manpower, they lack workforce. So these people, which are called the frontaliers, the the people living on the borders, they are essential for the Swiss economy, but they also uh, of course, make a lot of money and they become rich in their own countries.

East–West Swiss Diversity

SPEAKER_02 10:49

Mark, it seems to me like spending some time over on the uh Swiss German end of the country, Zurich being the largest city by far, it seems to me that finance on that side of the country, technology, Siemens is big there. We uh had an interview with some of the senior executives at Siemens, which it turns out Switzerland is the second largest for them in the world in terms of market, even though uh they're like number five corporation in terms of size. So that means they do a lot of business in Switzerland, a lot of technology in Switzerland. On the Western side where you are, in the French side, is that really a similar kind of ethos where the social cohesion is very strong, where you know people are expected to do the right thing? If you are, as they said to me in the Zurich area, also in the kind of villages, they said that if you don't do the right thing, they will uh call you out. They will tell you, hey, that's not the Swiss way. Do you find that's true in the French area, uh, which is really almost this other half of uh Switzerland, or is it different?

SPEAKER_01 11:56

Well, actually, there is a lot of diversity in Switzerland. That's that's the main um characteristics, if you like, because Switzerland is the result of an uh amalgation and sort of voluntary amalgation of uh uh territories uh which had, of course, very different histories, connections, ties with, of course, the uh German um uh principalities, the Austrian Habsburg, uh, or the French, of course, or the Italians. And and you can still feel that uh this diversity still exists. It has, of course, impact in terms of languages, because you know, about 60% of Swiss uh speak German or Swiss German, uh, which is a sort of dialect uh based on German, then uh around uh 30% French and about 10% Italian, and there's a fourth local language called Romance, uh which is you know spoken by only uh uh about uh I don't know, maybe 10 to 12,000 people, so it's very local, but it's still an official language. And sometimes what's that's of course uh also another characteristic, uh of course, um Swiss people learn the other languages at school, but sometimes they don't invest so much. So uh to communicate among themselves, this sometimes they use a third language like English, which is now very widespread, especially in in the in professional um areas.

SPEAKER_02 13:37

Can we stop there for a second on English? And the reason why I want to ask you that is that's exactly what I found in the Zurich area, that essentially the young people are prepared to speak English without any problem, certainly up to the age of 30. Then the professional people, as you say, up to the age of 50 or 60 speak English. And I think that, and this is important, I think, from the language point of view, that Switzerland seems to be able to balance three different national languages and have an additional language, English, which they will use as necessary for international business, which means that they can basically communicate with the world. Is that fair to say?

SPEAKER_01 14:15

Yes, but again, it depends uh you know who uh where uh where you you're uh which region you you have in mind, um, because of course Zurich is is the sort of the economic capital with a lot of uh industry uh like Basel, also chemical industry, uh pharmaceuticals. Geneva is more about banking, um shipping, uh, commodities, markets, etc. But in the rest of

Language, Identity, And English

SPEAKER_01 14:45

the country, you know, you still have very uh rural, rural culture, rural areas, which are still even the the percentage of agricultural population is is very low, you still have uh a very large, I would say, cultural influence of this um heritage, which is now reflected even in the uh voting system or the political uh situation, because the largest party, political party, is considered as not maybe as extreme right as the French equivalent, but because originally it is the agrarian party, the party of the farmers, uh, but very conservative, of course. And now, of course, it's not only focusing on agriculture, but also other pet topics of the extreme right, such as uh immigration and security and all that. So that shows again the diversity of uh these different influences and systems depending on the location, depending on the economic activities, etc. But it's it is also very international because you have world-ranking universities in Lausanne, in Geneva, in Zurich, uh which attract a lot of uh interest uh and investments, especially now in um high-tech uh AI. Uh many big companies you know come and do test their um productions in Lausanne, for instance. Um that's that's of course increases the international character of Switzerland.

SPEAKER_02 16:35

So, Mark, I didn't mean to cut you off on those other areas, but now that we've gone down the university side, this is something that I don't have a lot of experience with in Switzerland, and you have a great deal of experience as you have been a university professor in uh Geneva. Would you say that the Swiss have a woke, and I don't I'm sorry to put it that way, but a woke issue like a lot of other places that Trump talks about, Orban talks about, or even in France, they talk about that now. Or is it much more on, let's say, technical, scientific areas, or how is that working out for universities in terms of really representing the overall population? Especially, as you mentioned, there is a conservative element in the country that is uh quite powerful.

Universities, Autonomy, And “Woke”

SPEAKER_01 17:25

Yes, I would say traditionally um universities and uh the high federal schools, graduate schools, have been enjoying a lot of uh autonomy and independence, although they, of course, they're also funded by the the federal government. And it's a it's a very uh mixed system where actually uh Swiss students hardly pay any tuition. Uh foreign students, of course, uh pay uh tuition, but it's much much less than in uh in the United States, for instance. Um, and they get a lot of um partnerships, um investment uh from um companies that you know help students create their own uh startup companies, um they invest in in their labs, uh like like the you know the big Swiss companies like Nestle, of course, or or um uh uh pharmaceutical companies, of course, they again they it's not a donation, you know, it's it's really a matter of partnership. Um now in terms of the you know so-called woke uh phenomenon, I would say it has not really affected uh this uh autonomy of universities. Uh occasionally, of course, you hear about the debates in the political world, in parliament, um they but they they never go as far as what Trump is doing, to cut funding or to restrict programs or or uh or fire um staff, etc. I would say the sort of most visible um manifestation of this evolution was recently uh over the last couple of years, these demonstrations in support of the Palestinians uh due to the war on Gaza. And that really um showed, because it's a worldwide phenomenon of uh support, compassion, uh radicalization, even because sometimes these demonstrations turn violent, they're instrumental instrumentalized by um uh people who have a different uh agenda. But again, that was you know very much uh in the news, very much part of the general debate.

SPEAKER_02 19:49

It's interesting you mentioned the Palestinian side. As you know, I live in uh the south of France, a place called Montpellier. I have written about this and spoken about this before. I have found that while people are very sincere, it is rather performative, meaning that they go to school by day and they come out by evening and make, you know, make some noise, and then they go back to school and go back to the cafes, etc. And I find that's true throughout Europe. In fact, in my view, the French are probably the best at the performative art of demonstrating and protesting, which seems to happen all the time. That leads me to, and this is where I'm trying to make a link and tell me if I'm wrong. My view is if you go right down to the basics, which is down to that local level and democracy. And I found in Switzerland, in my view, you told me about this, and I looked it up, and I talked

Direct Democracy From The Ground Up

SPEAKER_02 20:45

to a lot of people, and here's what they tell me about democracy in Switzerland, as we have also discussed in the past. Most of the Swiss may or may not know the name of the president of the country, but they would know everybody that is a local politician. They made examples for me in some of the small villages I visited. They said, well, if we want a new playground, we vote for it. If we want to change some roads or fix something, we vote for it. And if they don't vote it in, then it does not happen. In other words, they're not bailed out by the federal government if the local government and the local people are not actually pushing to pay for things. So that also accounts for each canton having its own tax regime. Some tax regimes are quite low, and you can see that the public services there are not as strong as in other areas where they're much higher. So maybe you could explain to me your view, if you believe it's correct, that democracy starting very much from the local level and building up as opposed to, and you called it a defederalized system, which I completely agree with. The United States has been a top-down system, and in Switzerland, to me, is bottom-up. And I believe this is one of the primary differences in Switzerland is to have that bottom-up approach where everybody buys in. What do you think?

SPEAKER_01 22:10

Yes, absolutely, absolutely. This is the foundation of this uh Swiss model, of course, which uh took seven centuries to build, because I said it's a result of uh cantons uniting them them uh between them, uh perhaps against some uh external enemies. Uh and of course, they um for centuries, because there was not so much you know um easy communication between people, between the valleys, uh they remained sort of isolated. So everything that was dealt with at the local level was primary of primary importance. Then when the federal system was established in the 19th century, uh you know, people considered that this was based on uh you know the minimum necessary. So uh whatever is not necessary to have at the federal level, like uh you know, uh, for instance, culture, education, uh social systems, taxation, uh, they keep it at the local and or uh cantonal level, and they only increase or or control the amount of uh topics that are dealt with at the federal level just to precisely avoid um uh overdominance of a government um over their own regional local in interests. Uh now, of course, over the years there was a sort of tendency to maybe unify certain systems, like on in education. Of course, you have um uh decentralized system like in the United States, um, but at the same time they have a like what they call a national conference of ministers of education that meet regularly to exchange information, to coordinate better their their programs. Um this happening uh also with uh um uh chiefs of police at the continental level, they also meet regularly. The uh

France, U.S., And The Benefit Culture

SPEAKER_01 24:20

and and the federal level is only a sort of uh system of coordination. Um, but but of course there are areas which of course uh are bound to be uh dealt with at the federal level, like uh the army, the military, uh, the defense, and um some sort of basic legislation about uh the economy, protection of uh rights uh and uh imposition of duties for the economic actors, the companies and and the people. So this mix uh has been working uh very well, and uh you know regularly people vote because it's uh it's it's in the constitution that, for instance, if you want to change the federal constitution, you can only do that by referendum. And you only need 100,000 signatures, and then of course the there will be some some legal um uh filters, checks to see whether it's consistent with the constitution, and people vote. Now, of course, because you vote so often at the federal level, the cantonal level, and the local level, I would say the turnout is fairly low. Usually, like you vote four times per year, and the average turnout is around 40%. Um, there may be some referendums that people consider more important with the turn up turnout will be higher. But it's and it's made easy. You know, uh they tried the electronic vote, but that was not successful as yet. They they tested it for the Swiss people who live overseas or uh abroad. Um now the mainly the vote is happening by mail. So you receive regularly um the voting material at home, you you you know cross the the the bulletin, the the voting um uh the polling uh response uh and you send it by mail or you bring it to the um city hall, and it's it's been working. There is no fraud, there is, you know, uh again uh people take this for granted. It's it's part of their life. There are of sort of a couple of exceptions uh which are more sort of folkloric, where you still have a couple of towns where to vote, people have to gather physically on the on the main square uh and they vote uh uh by by hand. Uh but this is more for, I would say, local um uh issues or local elections.

SPEAKER_02 27:07

Well, that's that's a very interesting uh breakdown. Thanks for getting right down to that level on uh percentage of voting. I was going to ask you that question. So let's let's come contrast that with uh a couple of other places, and the two I'm gonna choose are France and the United States. So in France, where I'm living right now, here's what I my view is is that there is basically a lot of levels of government, but basically no local responsibility, meaning that the federal government is expected to actually pay for most uh everything, not everything, of course, but at a lot of levels. This introduces what I call the benefit culture, meaning that if you lobby hard enough at the federal level, you know, you can get some group can get something special. Now, in the United States, we have had also a development of this benefit culture. The uh left side, the Democrats, they believe that they have not been able to

Health Care: Private Base, Public Mindset

SPEAKER_02 28:10

get uh reforms into the immigration and other systems. So they counter this with by putting in more benefits. Trump now has come in and said no more benefits, or at least changed the benefits to more uh his area. And I don't mean benefits for uh people because Trump is cutting his own support base, the MAGA base. He has cut, as you know, the health care. So what we have in the United States is a very powerful federal system, which Trump said he was going to defederalize, and in fact, he is not. What he's done is now made that more strong on the military side, but he's stripping out the benefits. What we have in France is a system that is a benefit culture, but one that actually is not working very well because essentially nobody is taking responsibility for anything. So, how is it that Switzerland seems to have been able to solve that? And is it again back to that local elections and people uh funding things at the local level? But you still said they have a lot of benefits from the federal level. So, how is Switzerland able to balance that where other countries don't seem to be able to and cannot afford it?

SPEAKER_01 29:29

Yeah, well, it's sort of um you know difficult to break it down because of the complexity of the two-tier system with uh the three levels local, cantonal, and federal, because each has its advantages and uh benefits and and perhaps sometimes uh constraints, uh, like in terms of uh taxation. Um like you take the high health system, I would say it's closer to the American. system of basically relying on private insurance than the the French system which is based on public health uh you know funded by basically by the state or uh sort of national system um so they try to again to combine sort of uh the this feeling of responsibility and uh also benefits for the less uh favored ones the because even in a rich country you have poor people so they have these uh safety nets for instance you know uh for your health insurance the the you choose of course your your company and there is um sort of high competition and you can change company every year in November and you compare with you know the premiums um and uh if you have a low salary if you have like um if you're an unemployed but unemployment is very very low it's around three percent um then or if you have you know social uh issues um single mother or you know widow whatever then you can ask for social assistance and and all this is is being funded sort of self-funded um because the economy is strong so people accept to pay high taxes and that will fund the the whole system and um again this has been uh effective except that because of the costs which are rising now uh this is becoming a really a national issue a federal issue the federal government is trying to uh find solutions to keep the the cost of health down but people want of course still you know quality medicine and this is probably where you can get the best in in in the world um and so you have this mix of again of public system and and private system uh but it is very much uh also connected to the you know the price of medicine which of course is is an issue in the United States too because by the way most medicines more uh are imported from Switzerland so that sometimes you know raises this question about the power of the these big multinational companies uh whether they could be maybe more you know social minded uh uh reduce their their uh dividends for for the uh the shareholders um so again it's it's on the agenda it's being discussed one trend uh which is happening is apart from these private uh health insurance companies the idea would be to have a public one uh at the canton level that would of course offer um um competitive uh um uh rates of of premiums

Pensions And The Three Pillars

SPEAKER_01 33:20

so in a way the United States then well first of all I think all the listeners should note that Switzerland is the only developed country other than the United States that has a relies upon private health cover and does not have a public option.

SPEAKER_02 33:35

Everybody has to have private health cover isn't that right yes but again it's it's sort of mix because you have sort of the basic uh insurance which is compulsory um which is uh I would say a national system federal system uh based on on a law uh act voted by parliament uh but then in addition of course you you most people uh uh um have these private insurance uh contracts because they want more uh services like uh you know to have a single room in a hospital instead of sharing a room with uh four or five people we would call that in Australia topping it up or a private option or you know you pay for more extras the United States has that of course everywhere but the point I guess I want to get to is that the United States with Obamacare, which was the Affordable Care Act, and that is an insurance-based system, it is not an inherently bad system or bad idea, at least according to the Swiss, as opposed to let's say the French system, which is of course a publicly funded or the NHS in the United Kingdom, which is only allows a public option. So it would seem to me in not to stretch this out too much that the Swiss have adopted a model that is similar to the US they top it up they also give also in other words if you don't make enough money they will help pay for some of that coverage. And at the same time it affords people the option to get extras if they want either through their employer or directly out of their own pocket. Is that fair?

SPEAKER_01 35:17

Yes actually the the insurance system is not at all sub subsidized or supported by the employers uh contrary to the retirement uh programs the fund the retirement funds which are covered by uh um a share of employers and the employees and that again is is a federal system but um so you have again a minimum um pension that is uh guaranteed by the federal system and and because it's based on these uh um contributions by employers and employees and that's what they call the the first pillar everybody gets it um uh and then you have the second pillar which is a sort of forced um savings again with contributions from the employers and the employees so that means when you get your paycheck part of it is deducted it goes to that second pillar and you save the I mean of course the then the funds are are um you know um invested etc uh and so when you retire you get either a pension and that's your choice um or uh a capital and the third pillar is is purely private it's sort of voluntary savings and but of course with some uh benefits in terms of um low interest rates

Social Norms, Order, And Cohesion

SPEAKER_01 36:50

so the the bottom line here is I think if you looked at systems uh Switzerland is way more like the United States than it is like uh France would you say that's true? Yes of course yes so if that's true what is the difference why the United States is uh struggling especially no it's true uh although of course this level of social pressure depends also also again on the the cultural uh influence it's very strong in the German part of Switzerland because it's part of I would say the German mentality and I've you know known this in Austria for instance you know you could you could uh um benefit from it because you're for instance if if a car uh hit your car uh uh on the parking lot and didn't leave uh their um details of course somebody would um call the police and and let you know that who you know they like they noted the license plate etc so this can can happen also in Switzerland uh I would say in the Italian part in the French part it would it's more relaxed it's not so strong because again of the Latin influence but if if you compare for instance a French speaking Swiss and a French man of course you will have a lot of differences because uh just cross the border as as we do regularly you know uh you could you know realize that you know the even in the French system is more centralized, more dependent on the government, you see it's less functional you see public services in hospitals in transport the it's sort of you know um much worse details rating while in Switzerland well of course you still have social problems like uh um in big cities uh with uh sometimes problems with uh safety uh security because of the um you know drug traffickers and all that but overall you could say it it's it's a non-violent society and you're right to say that it's um

Guns, Service, And Safety

SPEAKER_01 40:25

um it's not violent despite the fact that there is one of the highest rates of possession of um firearms not of course as high as in the United States but very similar to to Finland or a couple of other countries but it's very well regulated uh again at all the levels so like my son he um he we went to to his firing range to to uh to train uh he had to of course keep the ammunition separate from the the rifle uh in a safe uh even if he wanted to travel to another uh canton he had to ask for permission because most men after their military service uh keep their weapons at home but they are very well um you know protected and that's why you have such a low rate of homicides uh suicide and accidents so mark we're gonna hit that question too because this is the last one and it's really important the United States has a lot of regulations the people in NRA would tell you absolutely they have more than enough regulations.

SPEAKER_02 41:38

Obviously what the U.S. has by the way uh Swiss households with guns are over 54% in the United States it's in the low 40s so actually Switzerland has more households with a gun but obviously Switzerland does not have households with multiple guns. You also mentioned the separation of the ammunition from the the guns and also uh strict regulations but in my view it seems to me at the end of the day and if you could speak to this there is in the United States people go off the rails in one of the you know the mental issues or people get angry or they are radicalized by the internet on one side or the other I don't see that in Switzerland. And what my takeaway from speaking to the Swiss so far has been is that people do observe their children, their young men in particular quite closely. The young men are not gamers. They are not down in the basement they are expected to get out, go hiking whatever it is, work on a car.

SPEAKER_01 42:43

I saw people working on cars in their front lawn like out of the 1960s in America you you find people are much more uh part of society than I think uh that I find with a lot of isolated things in the United States I know that's a big statement all of that is there any comment that you can give us to help sort that out well again I guess I think it's it's a combination of factors you have social cohesion the good education uh and at the same time the fact that uh most boys go to uh the the army uh serve um and those who don't want to serve in the army can have an alternative uh to do social work um that helps you know um coordinate uh harmonize integrate the people especially uh when they have they come from different um cultural or ethnic backgrounds that's very helpful um now of course and then the other point is is the strict regulations of course you you said there are more uh households with weapons in in in Switzerland but it's the availability of weapons in the in the United States you have 120 weapons for 100 people so that really makes you know the these guns available so easily you can go to a supermarket Walmart buy gun of course there are a few hurdles but we know they're not terribly difficult to to cross the in Switzerland it's much much more difficult. So that's why uh you don't have this this proliferation of uh firearms as you have in the United States.

SPEAKER_02 44:31

So Mark wrapping this up and by the way you mentioned the uh service I am a very strong proponent of uh some kind of national service as you know there is another country that has national service which is called the Little Switzerland which is Singapore they have national service and it has the same kind of idea uh that Switzerland has although they don't carry the guns in the home but everybody has to serve they now include uh women as uh an option to also to serve but what it does do exactly what you say is it gives a sense of of uh social cohesion but also kind of a national ethos and it's not an elite core of

The Swiss Difference In Daily Life

SPEAKER_02 45:10

that the United States has it's a very big difference in the United States the United States has a volunteer military which means that you choose to go in. In the United States we don't have a national service I believe this is a huge gap that the United States has which means that people don't meet all those other people they don't socialize with those people and later on in life you know it's them versus us and there's a lot of isolation among people especially the military once they get out so just to I don't ask you to comment on that but just is there anything in the end that you could point to that says this is the Swiss difference in that the rest of the world or is it all this combination of factors that make Switzerland the safest number one safest country in the world one of the richest countries in the world I know there's finance that's a separate category but also a place where small farms proliferate a place where as I I said in one of my episodes everybody kind of knows your name. Everybody is kind of watching over each other is it that combination or can you give me one or two things that really are the Swiss difference?

SPEAKER_01 46:23

Yes it's a combination of all these factors uh just to cite a recent anecdote my son works now for the Swiss federal government and Department of Defense and he was going to a meeting uh at Parliament um and uh you know just just opened the door and the president the current president was coming out she she is uh she's a member of of a seven member cabinet which is elected by parliament and uh once a year the cabinet elects the president for one year so there is a rotation and all the main parties political parties are represented uh in the government so it's based on proportional representation and here she was as you know the current president she was just walking out of parliament without even a single bodyguard and he took a couple of pictures she was just walking alone in the street uh this is typical uh I've you know I've seen a couple of uh ministers also taking the train with me uh also without uh any any security guards so that's typical because everybody takes this for granted it's normal it's it's uh you because the you you don't expect uh an elected um uh official to to have special privileges um you know to to become rich or to uh to be uh cut off from uh the people so again that makes it you know such a uh a very easy country to l to live in.

SPEAKER_02 48:04

Well today we have been speaking once again with Mark Fino. These are incredibly good insights I just love that last one about how you know public officials are not expected to be above anybody else. I love the idea of the rotational presidency there is no such thing as an imperial presidency in Switzerland. And Mark has lived for decades in Switzerland. He's originally from France he's lived around the world and he's chosen Switzerland to be his permanent home and how

Closing Reflections On Switzerland

SPEAKER_02 48:35

we can learn from this mountainous landlocked country of many languages, cultures and people thanks once again Mark for joining us and giving us your insight as always. Thank you. My pleasure this is Henry R. Greenfield for the Greenfield Report concluding our series of episodes looking into Switzerland a beautiful rich country rich in culture, the arts, literature, science, IT, finance, agriculture with its microagricultural systems, and also as Mark Fino can attest to diplomacy as the home of many United Nations agencies, most notably in Geneva. Perhaps in the end there is much for us to learn if we do more than just take the tourist routes or even the beautiful Alpine hikes and delve into the mysteries and their cultures. For unlike in the U.S. it is not one minute to midnight on the end of democracy as we have noted in previous episodes of the Greenfield Report. Rather in Switzerland it is a thriving total package of totally local democracy of culture, finance, longevity of life and working together where we can all learn a great deal from the Swiss.

SPEAKER_00 49:50

Thank you for joining us on the Greenfield Report with Henry a Greenfield. We hope today's insights into the ever shifting geopolitical landscape have sparked your curiosity and broadened your perspective. Stay connected with us for more in depth discussions and expert solutions. Until next time, keep exploring the world beyond the headlines