Switzerland Books

A nice discussion of the recent history of industrial relations in the European Union and Switzerland. Each country gets a chapter explaining who its main trade unions are, their membership demographics, and a description of their counterparts in the corporate world. Comparisons are made between countries, regarding their relative levels of unionisation and industrial disputes.

Often, the pressures of a EU-wide common market are also explained. The effects of these on nation-based trade unions, which are still most of them, due to legacies of language and history.

The book is good for getting a quick, accurate briefing on each country and on the entire EU scene.

This book could be a good resource of motifs for a beginning stitcher. There are a lot of motifs that one could use to make folk samplers with a Swiss/Germanic theme. They are very simply graphed and straightforward. There are also a number of "snowflake" patterns one could use to make Christmas ornaments. There were a couple of things that would have made this book better, in my opinion. One, it would have been nice to have seen all of the designs done in color; two, a color key would have been appreciated, although the designs are pretty straightforward and not difficult, so you could use any colors you wanted. Other than that, the book is very nice for the price.

THIS BOOK IDS FOR ANYONE TRULY INTERESTED IN LEARNING ABOUT PELVIC FLOOR REHABILITATION. MAINLY MEDICALLY FOCUSED BUT VERY INFORMATIVE ESP. FOR PHYSICAL THERAPISTS, STUDENTS OR EVERYDAY WOMEN INTERESTED IN LEARNING MORRE ABOUT KEGEL EXERCISES.

This is a very good book for children. It uses simple and straight forward language making it readable for kids and interesting as well. I would highly recommend this book to Cypriots with kids who live overseas. The book will introduce the young readers to the beautiful culture and problems of the divided island.

Barber describes at great length the historical emergence of democracy in communities of the Swiss canton Graubuenden, tracing its origins back more than a thousand years. The book is writen in plain English although it is Barber's aim to fundamentally question the 'liberal constitutionalism' which today marks the household definition of democracy.

Barber argues that capitalism and wealth have eroded much of the basic conditions that he considers requirements for effective direct democratic participation. However, he also points out that the particular historical path has also show that direct democratic systems are adaptable to new circumstances.

The book is a good read for academics and students of democracy studies. It is also an interesting account of the Swiss democratic system giving much elaboration to institutions and procedures. Anybody interested in the historical emergence and present-day workings of direct democratic systems will enjoy this read.

Boix seeks to explain the emergence of various political systems; particularly the transitions between democratic governments, right-wing authoritarian regimes, and left-wing dictatorships. However, Boix's use of triangulated research - the combination of quantitative and qualitative measures - provides a more accurate explanation of regime transition than Lipset's original work.

Boix uses three main independent variables to explain political outcomes. First, Boix examines rates of inequality. He suggests that a nation with a more equitable distribution of assets is likely to see the emergence of a democratic regime. Boix writes, "A more unequal distribution of wealth increases the redistributive demands of the population and the ultimate level of taxes in a democratic system. As the potential level of transfers become larger, the authoritarian inclination of the wealthy increase and the probabilities of democratization and democratic survival decline" (37).

Second, Boix examines the specificity of assets, that is, whether or not assets are expropiatable to other countries. The author contends that the more liquid an asset, the more likely a democratic regime will emerge. Boix asserts that if the wealthy are able to expropriate their assets to other nations, these assets are less likely to be taxed heavily by the poor. As such, the upper classes will be more receptive to a democratic regime. On the other hand, assets that are nontransferable - such as oil wealth - are likely to be subject to heavy taxation by the poor if a democratic regime took hold. As such, it is in the best interest of the wealthy elite to repress the poor and protect their monopoly of assets.

Lastly, Boix looks at the impact of political resources on regime transition. The costs and benefits of repression or revolt fluctuate between social classes under various circumstances. Boix argues that, holding inequality and specificity constant, the conflict between these oppositional groups, and their relative political strengths and weaknesses, lead to the emergence of specific regime types. He writes, "rich and poor assess both the income and benefits associated with each political regime and the costs of achieving their preferred solution" (44). For example, an authoritarian regime often operates in the interests of the ruling elite. So long as the costs of repressing the poor are less than the costs of granting universal suffrage, authoritarianism will continue. On the other hand, if a shift in the balance of power between classes occurs, transition becomes more likely. Boix argues that as the poor gain political resources, and overcome the problems of collective action, they are likely to put pressure on the upper classes (45). The cost of repression to the wealthy then becomes too high to justify continued authoritarianism and democracy emerges. If the poor believe that they have gained political power, or that the cost of being repressed has become unbearable, revolt ensues, and a left-wing dictatorship takes over.

Boix's combination of econometric techniques and qualitative analysis has reexamined the modernization and democratization debate and will prove a lasting contribution to the field.

This book is very interesting to read. It breaks down culture in several areas and everything is very well organized and easy to find. It provides lots of information on many topics and people but nothing is too in depth. I was thinking of using this in my German classroom but the words and sentance structure are college level. I would recommend this book to adults who have an interest in German culture.

It is a very good book with lots of information about the Hotels, restaurants, Public transport. It made our trip a lot easier.

I have been to Switzerland many times. Recently I sat down with my daughter who has worked at a hotel at Interlaken in Switzerland during her years in Business Administration at McGill - up to last summer - and we went over the Switzerland guides to see how they ranked, and what was currently the best guide in our humble opinions. We are not experts but have certain requirements and preferences. It helps if one can get a feel for the area in advance of a trip, and generally that is helped by good maps and color photos. So those guides do better in our review. We like to make reservations by internet and telephone and just use the Guide as a "guide".

Generally it costs more to publish a book with color photos so when all else is reasonably equal, one feels that they get better value with a guide with photos. Also we wanted to see if the ambiance at certain hotels and resorts was accurately portrayed in the text based on our knowledge. So those aspects of the guides determine our ranking. Incidentally all the books are excellent. When we did our review the new DK Eyewitness guide was not yet available, but in any case it will be short, under 400 pages.

For the Swiss guides we separated the guides into three groups, 5, 4, and 3 stars.

5 Stars (this group has nice color photos plus maps and text).

A. Green Guide to Switzerland published February 2001 by Michelin, 395 pages, $14., ranked 24,380 on Amazon.com, 0.64" x 9.4" x 4.7", lots of photos, maps, text, accurate portrayal of areas. Gives a nice idea of what you will find. Goes right down to small villages in detail even though it is just 395 pages. First choice.

B. Lonely Planet Switzerland published July 2003, 335 pages, $ 14., ranked 29,913 on Amazon.com, .69" x 6.42" x 6.5". Solid effort, lots of good photos and descriptions.

4 Stars (this group mainly text and maps).

C. Rough Guide to Switzerland published June 2003, 704 pages, $13.27, ranked 30,209 on Amazon.com, 1.08" x 7.8" x 6.38". Solid effort lots of things to see and do and best "text and maps only" books.

D. Frommer's Switzerland published February 2003, 512 pages, $15.39, ranked 47,638 on Amazon.com, 1.1" x 8.5" x 5.08". Similar to Rough Guide but shorter.

E. Fodor's Guide to Switzerland 42 edition, published December 2002, 448 pages, $14.7, ranked highest in group on Amazon.com at 3,172, 1.2" x 8.98" x 5.01". The smallest in the group, do not know why it is so popular?.

3 Stars

F. Michelin Red Guide published in 2004, 563 pages but in four languages: Italian, French, German and English so English sections are just a fraction of the book.