Conventional long name
Common name	Switzerland
Image coat	Coat of Arms of Switzerland (Pantone).svg
Map caption
National motto	''(unofficial)'' "Unus pro omnibus, omnes pro uno" (Latin)
National anthem	Swiss PsalmSchweizerpsalm (German)Cantique Suisse (French)Salmo svizzero (Italian)Psalm svizzer (Romansch)
Official languages	German (63.7 %),French (20.4 %),Italian (6.5 %),Romansh (0.5 %)
Demonym	Swiss
Capital	Bern (de facto)
Largest city	Zurich
Legislature	Federal Assembly
Upper house	Council of States
Lower house	National Council
Government type	Federal republic, with directorial system and direct democracy
Leader title1	Federal Council
Leader name1	Micheline Calmy-Rey (Pres. 11)Doris LeuthardEveline Widmer-Schlumpf (VP 11)Ueli MaurerDidier BurkhalterSimonetta SommarugaJohann Schneider-Ammann
Leader title2	Federal Chancellor
Leader name2	Corina Casanova
Area sq mi	15,940
Area rank	133rd
Area magnitude	1 E10
Area km2	41,285
Percent water	4.2
Population estimate	7,866,500
Population growth (2009)	+1,0%
Population estimate year	2010
Population estimate rank	95th
Population density km2	188
Population density sq mi	477.4
Population density rank	65th
Population census	7,452,075
Population census year	2000
Gdp ppp	$321.898 billion
Gdp ppp year	2011
Gdp ppp per capita	$ 45,265
Gdp nominal	$512.065 billion
Gdp nominal year	2011
Gdp nominal per capita	$75,835
Hdi year	2010
Hdi	0.874
Hdi rank	13th
Hdi category	very high
Gini	33.7
Gini year	2000
Gini category	medium
Sovereignty type	Independence
Established event1	Foundation date
Established event2	''de facto''
Established event3	Recognised
Established event4	Restored
Established event5	Federal state
Established date1	1 August 1291
Established date2	22 September 1499
Established date3	24 October 1648
Established date4	7 August 1815
Established date5	12 September 1848
Currency	Swiss franc
Currency code	CHF
Time zone	CET
Utc offset	+1
Time zone dst	CEST
Utc offset dst	+2
Drives on	right (trains: left)
Cctld	.ch
Calling code	+41
Footnote1	}}

Switzerland (, , , ), officially the Swiss Confederation (, hence its abbreviation CH), is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe, where it is bordered by Germany to the north, France to the west, Italy to the south, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east.

Switzerland is a landlocked country geographically divided between the Alps, the Central Plateau and the Jura, spanning an area of . While the Alps occupy the greater part of the territory, the Swiss population of approximately 7.9 million people concentrates mostly on the Plateau, where the largest cities are to be found. Among them are the two global cities and economic centres of Zurich and Geneva.

The Swiss Confederation has a long history of neutrality—it has not been in a state of war internationally since 1815—and did not join the United Nations until 2002. It pursues, however, an active foreign policy and is frequently involved in peace-building processes around the world. Switzerland is also the birthplace of the Red Cross and home to a large number of international organizations, including the second largest UN office. On the European level, it is a founding member of the European Free Trade Association and is part of the Schengen Area – although it is notably not a member of the European Union, nor the European Economic Area.

In nominal terms, Switzerland is one of the richest countries in the world by per capita gross domestic product, with a nominal per capita GDP of $75,835. In 2010, Switzerland had the highest wealth per adult of any country in the world (with $372,692 for each person). Switzerland also has one of the world's largest account balances as a percentage of GDP, only placing behind a few oil producing countries. Zurich and Geneva have respectively been ranked as the cities with the second and third highest quality of life in the world. In 2010 the World Economic Forum ranked Switzerland as the most competitive country in the world, while ranked by the European Union as Europe's most innovative country by far.

Switzerland comprises three main linguistic and cultural regions: German, French, and Italian, to which the Romansh-speaking valleys are added. The Swiss therefore do not form a nation in the sense of a common ethnic or linguistic identity. The strong sense of belonging to the country is founded on the common historical background, shared values (federalism, direct democracy, neutrality) and Alpine symbolism. The establishment of the Swiss Confederation is traditionally dated to 1 August 1291; Swiss National Day is celebrated on the anniversary.

History

Switzerland has existed as a state in its present form since the adoption of the Swiss Federal Constitution in 1848. The precursors of modern Switzerland established a protective alliance at the end of the 13th century (1291), forming a loose confederation of states which persisted for centuries.

Etymology

The English name ''Switzerland'' is a compound containing ''Switzer'', an obsolete term for the Swiss, which was in use during the 16th to 19th centuries. The English adjective ''Swiss'' is a loan from French '''', also in use since the 16th century. The name ''Switzer'' is from the Alemannic '''', in origin an inhabitant of ''Schwyz'' and its associated territory, one of the Waldstätten cantons which formed the nucleus of the Old Swiss Confederacy. The toponym itself is first attested in 972, as Old High German '''', ultimately perhaps related to '''' "to burn", referring to the area of forest that was burned and cleared to build. The name was extended to the area dominated by the canton, and after the Swabian War of 1499 gradually came to be used for the entire Confederation.

The Swiss German name of the country, '''', is homophonous to that of the canton and the settlement, but distinguished by the use of the definite article ('''' for the Confederation, but simply '''' for the canton and the town).

The New Latin name ''Confoederatio Helvetica'' was introduced gradually after the formation of the federal state in 1848, harking back to the Napoleonic Helvetic Republic, appearing on coins from 1879, inscribed on the Federal Palace in 1902 and after 1948 used in the official seal. It is derived from the name of the ''Helvetii'', a Gaulish tribe living on the Swiss plateau before the Roman era. ''Helvetia'' appears as a national personification of the Swiss confederacy in the 17th century, with a 1672 play by Johann Caspar Weissenbach.

Early history

The oldest traces of hominid existence in Switzerland date back about 150,000 years. The oldest known farming settlements in Switzerland, which were found at Gächlingen, have been dated to around 5300 BC.

The earliest known cultural tribes of the area were members of the Hallstatt and La Tène cultures, named after the archaeological site of La Tène on the north side of Lake Neuchâtel. La Tène culture developed and flourished during the late Iron Age from around 450 BC, possibly under some influence from the Greek and Etruscan civilisations. One of the most important tribal groups in the Swiss region was the Helvetii. In 58 BC, at the Battle of Bibracte, Julius Caesar's armies defeated the Helvetii. In 15 BC, Tiberius, who was destined to be the second Roman emperor and his brother, Drusus, conquered the Alps, integrating them into the Roman Empire. The area occupied by the Helvetii—the namesakes of the later ''Confoederatio Helvetica''—first became part of Rome's Gallia Belgica province and then of its Germania Superior province, while the eastern portion of modern Switzerland was integrated into the Roman province of Raetia.

In the Early Middle Ages, from the 4th century, the western extent of modern-day Switzerland was part of the territory of the Kings of the Burgundians. The Alemanni settled the Swiss plateau in the 5th century and the valleys of the Alps in the 8th century, forming Alemannia. Modern-day Switzerland was therefore then divided between the kingdoms of Alemannia and Burgundy. The entire region became part of the expanding Frankish Empire in the 6th century, following Clovis I's victory over the Alemanni at Tolbiac in 504 AD, and later Frankish domination of the Burgundians.

Throughout the rest of the 6th, 7th and 8th centuries the Swiss regions continued under Frankish hegemony (Merovingian and Carolingian dynasties). But after its extension under Charlemagne, the Frankish empire was divided by the Treaty of Verdun in 843. The territories of present day Switzerland became divided into Middle Francia and East Francia until they were reunified under the Holy Roman Empire around 1000 AD.

By 1200, the Swiss plateau comprised the dominions of the houses of Savoy, Zähringer, Habsburg and Kyburg. Some regions (Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden, later known as ''Waldstätten'') were accorded the Imperial immediacy to grant the empire direct control over the mountain passes. When the Kyburg dynasty fell in 1264 AD, the Habsburgs under King Rudolph I (Holy Roman Emperor in 1273) extended their territory to the eastern Swiss plateau.

Old Swiss Confederacy

The Old Swiss Confederacy was an alliance among the valley communities of the central Alps. The Confederacy facilitated management of common interests (free trade) and ensured peace on the important mountain trade routes. The Federal Charter of 1291 agreed between the rural communes of Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden is considered the confederacy's founding document, even though similar alliances are likely to have existed decades earlier.

By 1353 the three original cantons had joined with the cantons of Glarus and Zug and the Lucerne, Zurich and Bern city states to form the "Old Confederacy" of eight states that existed until the end of the 15th century. The expansion led to increased power and wealth for the federation. By 1460, the confederates controlled most of the territory south and west of the Rhine to the Alps and the Jura mountains, particularly after victories against the Habsburgs (Battle of Sempach, Battle of Näfels), over Charles the Bold of Burgundy during the 1470s, and the success of the Swiss mercenaries. The Swiss victory in the Swabian War against the Swabian League of Emperor Maximilian I in 1499 amounted to ''de facto'' independence within the Holy Roman Empire.

The Old Swiss Confederacy had acquired a reputation of invincibility during these earlier wars, but expansion of the federation suffered a setback in 1515 with the Swiss defeat in the Battle of Marignano. This ended the so-called "heroic" epoch of Swiss history. The success of Zwingli's Reformation in some cantons led to inter-cantonal religious conflicts in 1529 and 1531 (Wars of Kappel). It was not until more than one hundred years after these internal wars that, in 1648, under the Peace of Westphalia, European countries recognized Switzerland's independence from the Holy Roman Empire and its neutrality.

During the Early Modern period of Swiss history, the growing authoritarianism of the patriciate families combined with a financial crisis in the wake of the Thirty Years' War led to the Swiss peasant war of 1653. In the background to this struggle, the conflict between Catholic and Protestant cantons persisted, erupting in further violence at the Battles of Villmergen in 1656 and 1712.

Napoleonic era

In 1798, the revolutionary French government conquered Switzerland and imposed a new unified constitution. This centralised the government of the country and effectively abolished the cantons and Mülhausen and Valtellina valley separated from Switzerland. The new regime, known as the Helvetic Republic, was highly unpopular. It had been imposed by a foreign invading army and destroyed centuries of tradition, making Switzerland nothing more than a French satellite state. The fierce French suppression of the Nidwalden Revolt in September 1798 was an example of the oppressive presence of the French Army and the local population's resistance to the occupation.

When war broke out between France and its rivals, Russian and Austrian forces invaded Switzerland. The Swiss refused to fight alongside the French in the name of the Helvetic Republic. In 1803 Napoleon organised a meeting of the leading Swiss politicians from both sides in Paris. The result was the Act of Mediation which largely restored Swiss autonomy and introduced a Confederation of 19 cantons. Henceforth much of Swiss politics would concern balancing the cantons' tradition of self-rule with the need for a central government.

In 1815 the Congress of Vienna fully re-established Swiss independence and the European powers agreed to permanently recognise Swiss neutrality. Swiss troops still served foreign governments until 1860 when they fought in the Siege of Gaeta. The treaty also allowed Switzerland to increase its territory, with the admission of the cantons of Valais, Neuchâtel and Geneva. Switzerland's borders have not changed since.

Federal state

The restoration of the power to the patriciate was only temporary. After a period of unrest with repeated violent clashes such as the Züriputsch of 1839, civil war broke out in 1847 when some of the Catholic cantons tried to set up a separate alliance (the ''Sonderbundskrieg''). The war lasted for less than a month, causing fewer than 100 casualties, most of which were through friendly fire. However minor the Sonderbundskrieg seems to be when compared with other European riots and wars in the 19th century, it nevertheless had a major impact on both the psychology and the society of the Swiss and of Switzerland.

The war convinced most Swiss of the need for unity and strength towards its European neighbours. Swiss people from all strata of society, whether Catholic, Protestant, or from the liberal or conservative current, realised that the cantons would profit more if their economic and religious interests were merged.

Thus, while the rest of Europe was plagued by revolutionary uprisings, the Swiss drew up a constitution which provided for a federal layout, much of it inspired by the American example. This constitution provided for a central authority while leaving the cantons the right to self-government on local issues. Giving credit to those who favoured the power of the cantons (the Sonderbund Kantone), the national assembly was divided between an upper house (the Swiss Council of States, 2 representatives per canton) and a lower house (the National Council of Switzerland, representatives elected from across the country). Referenda were made mandatory for any amendment of this constitution.

A system of single weights and measures was introduced and in 1850 the Swiss franc became the Swiss single currency. Article 11 of the constitution forbade sending troops to serve abroad, though the Swiss were still obliged to serve Francis II of the Two Sicilies with Swiss Guards present at the Siege of Gaeta in 1860, marking the end of foreign service.

An important clause of the constitution was that it could be re-written completely if this was deemed necessary, thus enabling it to evolve as a whole rather than being modified one amendment at a time.

This need soon proved itself when the rise in population and the Industrial Revolution that followed led to calls to modify the constitution accordingly. An early draft was rejected by the population in 1872 but modifications led to its acceptance in 1874. It introduced the facultative referendum for laws at the federal level. It also established federal responsibility for defense, trade, and legal matters.

In 1891, the constitution was revised with unusually strong elements of direct democracy, which remain unique even today.

Modern history

Switzerland was not invaded during either of the world wars. During World War I, Switzerland was home to Vladimir Illych Ulyanov (Lenin) and he remained there until 1917. Swiss neutrality was seriously questioned by the Grimm-Hoffmann Affair in 1917, but it was short-lived. In 1920, Switzerland joined the League of Nations, which was based in Geneva, on the condition that it was exempt from any military requirements.

During World War II, detailed invasion plans were drawn up by the Germans, but Switzerland was never attacked. Switzerland was able to remain independent through a combination of military deterrence, concessions to Germany, and good fortune as larger events during the war delayed an invasion. Under General Henri Guisan, a massive mobilisation of militia forces was ordered. The Swiss military strategy was changed from one of static defence at the borders to protect the economic heartland, to one of organised long-term attrition and withdrawal to strong, well-stockpiled positions high in the Alps known as the Reduit. Switzerland was an important base for espionage by both sides in the conflict and often mediated communications between the Axis and Allied powers.

Switzerland's trade was blockaded by both the Allies and by the Axis. Economic cooperation and extension of credit to the Third Reich varied according to the perceived likelihood of invasion and the availability of other trading partners. Concessions reached a peak after a crucial rail link through Vichy France was severed in 1942, leaving Switzerland completely surrounded by the Axis. Over the course of the war, Switzerland interned over 300,000 refugees and the International Red Cross, based in Geneva, played an important part during the conflict. Strict immigration and asylum policies as well as the financial relationships with Nazi Germany raised controversy but not until the end of the 20th century, carrying on to this day with some Swiss banks and entities still refusing to surrender the assets deposited by victims of Nazi persecution.

During the war, the Swiss Air Force engaged aircraft of both sides, shooting down 11 intruding Luftwaffe planes in May and June 1940, then forcing down other intruders after a change of policy following threats from Germany. Over 100 Allied bombers and their crews were interned during the war. During 1944–45, Allied bombers mistakenly bombed a few places in Switzerland, among which were the cities of Schaffhausen, Basel and Zurich.

After the war, the Swiss government exported credits through the charitable fund known as the «Schweizerspende» and also donated to the Marshall Plan to help Europe's recovery, efforts that ultimately benefit the Swiss economy.

Women were granted the right to vote in the first Swiss cantons in 1959, at the federal level in 1971 and, after resistance, in the last canton Appenzell Innerrhoden in 1990. After suffrage at the federal level, women quickly rose in political significance, with the first woman on the seven member Federal Council executive being Elisabeth Kopp, who served from 1984–1989, and the first female president being Ruth Dreifuss in 1999.

thumb|In 2003, by electing Christoph Blocher, the Parliament granted the Swiss People's Party a second seat in the [[Swiss Federal Council|governing cabinet, altering the coalition which had brought stability to Swiss politics since 1959.]] The election of Blocher was undone by the Federal Assembly (parliament) in 2007 when the politician was replaced by a female representative from his own party. Switzerland joined the Council of Europe in 1963. In 1979 areas from the canton of Bern attained independence from the Bernese, forming the new canton of Jura. On 18 April 1999 the Swiss population and the cantons voted in favour of a completely revised federal constitution.

In 2002 Switzerland became a full member of the United Nations, leaving the Vatican City as the last widely recognised state without full UN membership. Switzerland is a founding member of the EFTA, but is not a member of the European Economic Area. An application for membership in the European Union was sent in May 1992, but not advanced since the EEA was rejected in December 1992 when Switzerland was the only country to launch a referendum on the EEA. There have since been several referenda on the EU issue; due to a mixed reaction from the population the membership application has been frozen. Nonetheless, Swiss law is gradually being adjusted to conform with that of the EU, and the government has signed a number of bilateral agreements with the European Union. Switzerland, together with Liechtenstein, has been completely surrounded by the EU since Austria's membership in 1995. On 5 June 2005, Swiss voters agreed by a 55% majority to join the Schengen treaty, a result that was regarded by EU commentators as a sign of support by Switzerland, a country that is traditionally perceived as independent and reluctant to enter supranational bodies.

Geography

Extending across the north and south side of the Alps, Switzerland encompasses a great diversity of landscapes and climates on a limited area of . The population is about 7.9 million, resulting in an average population density of around 190 people per square kilometre (485/sq mi). The more mountainous southern half of the country is far more sparsely populated than the northern half. In the largest Canton of Graubünden, lying entirely in the Alps, population density falls to 27 /km² (70 /sq mi).

Switzerland lies between latitudes 45° and 48° N, and longitudes 5° and 11° E. It contains three basic topographical areas: the Swiss Alps on the south, the Central Plateau or middleland, and the Jura mountains on the north. The Alps are a high mountain range running across the central-south of the country, comprising about 60% of the country's total area. Among the high valleys of the Swiss Alps many glaciers are found, totalling an area of 1,063 square kilometres. From these originate the headwaters of several major rivers, such as the Rhine, Inn, Ticino and Rhone, which flow in the four cardinal directions into the whole of Europe. The hydrographic network includes several of the largest bodies of freshwater in Central and Western Europe, among which are included Lake Geneva, Lake Constance and Lake Maggiore. Switzerland has more than 1500 lakes, and contains 6% of Europe's stock of fresh water. Lakes and glaciers cover about 6% of the national territory.

About a hundred of Switzerland's mountain peaks are close to or higher than . At , Monte Rosa is the highest, although the Matterhorn () is probably the most famous. Both are located within the Pennine Alps in the canton of Valais. The section of the Bernese Alps above the deep glacial Lauterbrunnen valley, containing 72 waterfalls, is well known for the Jungfrau () and Eiger, and the many picturesque valleys in the region. In the southeast the long Engadin Valley, encompassing the St. Moritz area in canton Graubünden, is also well known; the highest peak in the neighbouring Bernina Alps is Piz Bernina ().

The more populous northern part of the country, comprising about 30% of the country's total area, is called the Middle Land. It has greater open and hilly landscapes, partly forested, partly open pastures, usually with grazing herds, or vegetables and fruit fields, but it is still hilly. There are large lakes found here and the biggest Swiss cities are in this area of the country. The largest lake is Lake Geneva (also called Lac Léman in French), in western Switzerland. The Rhone River is both the main input and output of Lake Geneva.

Climate

The Swiss climate is generally temperate, but can vary greatly between the localities, from glacial conditions on the mountaintops to the often pleasant near Mediterranean climate at Switzerland's southern tip. Summers tend to be warm and humid at times with periodic rainfall so they are ideal for pastures and grazing. The less humid winters in the mountains may see long intervals of stable conditions for weeks, while the lower lands tend to suffer from inversion, during this periods, thus seeing no sun for weeks.

A weather phenomenon known as the föhn (with an identical effect to the chinook wind) can occur at all times of the year and is characterised by an unexpectedly warm wind, bringing air of very low relative humidity to the north of the Alps during rainfall periods on the southern face of the Alps. This works both ways across the alps but is more efficient if blowing from the south due to the steeper step for oncoming wind from the south. Valleys running south to north trigger the best effect. The driest conditions persist in all inner alpine valleys that receive less rain because arriving clouds lose a lot of their content while crossing the mountains before reaching these areas. Large alpine areas such as Graubünden remain drier than pre-alpine areas and as in the main valley of the Valais wine grapes are grown there.

The wettest conditions persist in the high Alps and in the Ticino canton which has much sun yet heavy bursts of rain from time to time. Precipitation tends to be spread moderately throughout the year with a peak in summer. Autumn is the driest season, winter receives less precipitation than summer, yet the weather patterns in Switzerland are not in a stable climate system and can be variable from year to year with no strict and predictable periods.

Environment

Switzerland's ecosystems can be particularly fragile, because of the many delicate valleys separated by high mountains, often forming unique ecologies. The mountainous regions themselves are also vulnerable, with a rich range of plants not found at other altitudes, and experience some pressure from visitors and grazing. The climatic, geological and topographical conditions of the alpine region make for a very fragile ecosystem that is particularly sensitive to climate change.

Politics

The Federal Constitution adopted in 1848 is the legal foundation of the modern federal state. It is among the oldest constitutions in the world. A new Constitution was adopted in 1999, but did not introduce notable changes to the federal structure. It outlines basic and political rights of individuals and citizen participation in public affairs, divides the powers between the Confederation and the cantons and defines federal jurisdiction and authority. There are three main governing bodies on the federal level: the bicameral parliament (legislative), the Federal Council (executive) and the Federal Court (judicial).

The Swiss Parliament consists of two houses: the Council of States which has 46 representatives (two from each canton and one from each half-canton) who are elected under a system determined by each canton, and the National Council, which consists of 200 members who are elected under a system of proportional representation, depending on the population of each canton. Members of both houses serve for 4 years. When both houses are in joint session, they are known collectively as the Federal Assembly. Through referendums, citizens may challenge any law passed by parliament and through initiatives, introduce amendments to the federal constitution, thus making Switzerland a direct democracy.

The Federal Council constitutes the federal government, directs the federal administration and serves as collective Head of State. It is a collegial body of seven members, elected for a four-year mandate by the Federal Assembly which also exercises oversight over the Council. The President of the Confederation is elected by the Assembly from among the seven members, traditionally in rotation and for a one-year term; the President chairs the government and assumes representative functions. However, the president is a ''primus inter pares'' with no additional powers, and remains the head of a department within the administration.

The Swiss government has been a coalition of the four major political parties since 1959, each party having a number of seats that roughly reflects its share of electorate and representation in the federal parliament. The classic distribution of 2 CVP/PDC, 2 SPS/PSS, 2 FDP/PRD and 1 SVP/UDC as it stood from 1959 to 2003 was known as the "magic formula". In the 2007 Federal Council elections the seven seats in the Federal Council were distributed as follows: : 2 Social Democrats (SPS/PSS), : 2 Liberal Democrats (FDP/PRD), : 2 Swiss People's Party (SVP/UDC), : 1 Christian Democrats (CVP/PDC).

The function of the Federal Supreme Court is to hear appeals against rulings of cantonal or federal courts. The judges are elected by the Federal Assembly for six-year terms.

Direct democracy

Swiss citizens are subject to three legal jurisdictions: the commune, canton and federal levels. The 1848 federal constitution defines a system of direct democracy (sometimes called ''half-direct'' or representative direct democracy since it is aided by the more commonplace institutions of a parliamentary democracy). The instruments of Swiss direct democracy at the federal level, known as civic rights (''Volksrechte'', ''droits civiques''), include the right to submit a ''constitutional initiative'' and a ''referendum'', both of which may overturn parliamentary decisions.

By calling a federal ''referendum'' a group of citizens may challenge a law that has been passed by Parliament, if they can gather 50,000 signatures against the law within 100 days. If so, a national vote is scheduled where voters decide by a simple majority whether to accept or reject the law. Eight cantons together can also call a referendum on a federal law.

Similarly, the federal ''constitutional initiative'' allows citizens to put a constitutional amendment to a national vote, if they can get 100,000 voters to sign the proposed amendment within 18 months. Parliament can supplement the proposed amendment with a counter-proposal, with voters having to indicate a preference on the ballot in case both proposals are accepted. Constitutional amendments, whether introduced by initiative or in Parliament, must be accepted by a double majority of both the national popular vote and a majority of the cantonal popular votes.

Administrative divisions

The Swiss Confederation consists of 26 cantons: {| style="float:left; border:0; margin:2.6em 0 0;" |- | valign="top" | |}

! colspan="2"

*These half-cantons are represented by one councillor (instead of two) in the Council of States.

The cantons have a permanent constitutional status and, in comparison with the situation in other countries, a high degree of independence. Under the Federal Constitution, all 26 cantons are equal in status. Each canton has its own constitution, and its own parliament, government and courts. However, there are considerable differences between the individual cantons, most particularly in terms of population and geographical area. Their populations vary between 15,000 (Appenzell Innerrhoden) and 1,253,500 (Zurich), and their area between (Basel-Stadt) and (Graubünden). The Cantons comprise a total of 2,889 municipalities. Within Switzerland there are two enclaves: Büsingen belongs to Germany, Campione d'Italia belongs to Italy.

In a referendum held in the Austrian state of Vorarlberg on 11 May 1919 over 80% of those voting supported a proposal that the state should join the Swiss Confederation. However, this was prevented by the opposition of the Austrian Government, the Allies, Swiss liberals and non German-speaking Swiss.

Foreign relations and international institutions

Traditionally, Switzerland avoids alliances that might entail military, political, or direct economic action and had been neutral since the end of its expansion in 1515. Its policy of neutrality has been internationally recognised at the Congress of Vienna in 1815. Only in 2002 did Switzerland become a full member of the United Nations and it was the first state to join it by referendum. Switzerland maintains diplomatic relations with almost all countries and historically has served as an intermediary between other states. Switzerland is not a member of the European Union; the Swiss people have consistently rejected membership since the early 1990s.

An unusual number of international institutions have their seats in Switzerland, in part because of its policy of neutrality. Geneva is the birth place of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and the Geneva Conventions and, since 2006, hosts the United Nations Human Rights Council. Even though Switzerland is one of the most recent countries to have joined the United Nations, the Palace of Nations in Geneva is the second biggest centre for the United Nations after New York, and Switzerland was a founding member and home to the League of Nations.

Apart from the United Nations headquarters, the Swiss Confederation is host to many UN agencies, like the World Health Organization (WHO), the International Labour Organization (ILO), the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and about 200 other international organisations, including the World Trade Organization. The annual meetings of the World Economic Forum in Davos bring together top international business and political leaders from Switzerland and foreign countries to discuss important issues facing the world, including health and the environment.

Furthermore, many sport federations and organisations are located throughout the country, such as the International Basketball Federation, in Geneva, the UEFA (Union of European Football Association), in Nyon, the FIFA (International Federation of Association Football) and the International Ice Hockey Federation, in Zurich, the International Cycling Union, in Aigle, and the International Olympic Committee, in Lausanne.

Military

The Swiss Armed Forces, including the Land Forces and the Air Force, are composed of conscripts: professional soldiers constitute only about 5 percent of the military personnel, and all the rest are conscript male citizens aged from 20 to 34 (in special cases up to 50) years. Being a landlocked country, Switzerland has no navy, however on lakes bordering neighbouring countries armed military patrol boats are used. Swiss citizens are prohibited from serving in foreign armies, with the exception of the Swiss Guards of the Vatican.

The structure of the Swiss militia system stipulates that the soldiers keep their Army issued equipment, including all personal weapons, at home. Some organizations and political parties find this practice controversial but mainstream Swiss opinion is in favour of the system. Compulsory military service concerns all male Swiss citizens; women can serve voluntarily. Men usually receive military conscription orders for training at the age of 19. About two thirds of the young Swiss are found suited for service; for those found unsuited, various forms of alternative service exist. Annually, approximately 20,000 persons are trained in recruit centres for a duration from 18 to 21 weeks. The reform "Army XXI" was adopted by popular vote in 2003, it replaced the previous model "Army 95", reducing the effectives from 400,000 to about 200,000. Of those, 120,000 are active in periodic Army training and 80,000 are non-training reserves.

Overall, three general mobilisations have been declared to ensure the integrity and neutrality of Switzerland. The first one was held on the occasion of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71. The second one was decided in response to the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914. The third mobilisation of the army took place on September 1939 in response to the German attack on Poland; Henri Guisan was elected as the General-in-Chief.

Because of its neutrality policy, the Swiss army does not currently take part in armed conflicts in other countries, but is part of some peacekeeping missions around the world. Since 2000 the armed forces department has also maintained the Onyx intelligence gathering system to monitor satellite communications.

Following the end of the Cold War there have been a number of attempts to curb military activity or even abolish the armed forces altogether. A notable referendum on the subject, launched by an anti-militarist group, was held on 26 November 1989. It was defeated with about two thirds of the voters against the proposal. A similar referendum, called for before, but held shortly after, the September 11 attacks in the US, was defeated by over 78% of voters.

Economy

Switzerland has a stable and modern economy. It has the highest European rating in the Index of Economic Freedom 2010, while also providing large coverage through public services. The nominal per capita GDP is higher than those of the larger Western and Central European economies and Japan (and indeed one of the highest in the world). The Swiss franc remains one of the world's strongest currencies with the lowest inflation rate (rising to an estimated 0.7% ).

If adjusted for purchasing power parity, Switzerland ranks sixteenth in the world for GDP per capita. The World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Report currently ranks Switzerland's economy as the most competitive in the world. For much of the 20th century, Switzerland was the wealthiest country in Europe by a considerable margin. In 2010, the Global Wealth Report by Credit Suisse Research Institute found that Switzerland has the highest average wealth per adult at $372,692, followed by Norway, Australia and Singapore at $326,530, $320,909 and $255,488 respectively, with wealth defined by the value of financial and non-financial (such as real estate) assets. In 2005 the median household income in Switzerland was an estimated 95,000 CHF, the equivalent of roughly 100,000 USD (as of December 2010) in nominal terms.

Switzerland is home to several large multinational corporations. The largest Swiss companies by revenue are Glencore, Nestlé, Novartis, Hoffmann-La Roche, ABB and Adecco. Also notable are UBS AG, Zurich Financial Services, Credit Suisse, Swiss Re, and The Swatch Group. Switzerland is ranked as having one of the most powerful economies in the world.

Around 3.8 million people work in Switzerland. Switzerland has a more flexible job market than neighboring countries and the unemployment rate is very low. Unemployment rate increased from a low of 1.7% in June 2000 to a peak of 4.4%, as of December 2009. Population growth from net immigration is quite high, at 0.52% of population in 2004. Foreign citizen population is 21.8% as of 2004, about the same as in Australia. GDP per hour worked is the world's 17th highest, at 27.44 international dollars in 2006.

Switzerland has an overwhelmingly private sector economy and low tax rates by the Western World standards; overall taxation is one of the smallest of developed countries. Switzerland is an easy place to do business; Switzerland ranks 21st of 178 countries in the Ease of Doing Business Index. The slow growth Switzerland experienced in the 1990s and the early 2000s has brought greater support for economic reforms and harmonisation with the European Union. According to Credit Suisse, only about 37% of residents own their own homes, one of the lowest rates of home ownership in Europe. Housing and food price levels were 171% and 145% of the EU-25 index in 2007, compared to 113% and 104% in Germany.

Agricultural protectionism—a rare exception to Switzerland's free trade policies—has contributed to high food prices. Product market liberalisation is lagging behind many EU countries according to the OECD. Nevertheless, domestic purchasing power is one of the best in the world. Apart from agriculture, economic and trade barriers between the European Union and Switzerland are minimal and Switzerland has free trade agreements worldwide. Switzerland is a member of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA).

Education and science

Education in Switzerland is very diverse because the constitution of Switzerland delegates the authority for the school system to the cantons. There are both public and private schools, including many private international schools. The minimum age for primary school is about six years in all cantons, but most cantons provide a free "children's school" starting at four or five years old. Primary school continues until grade four or five, depending on the school. Traditionally, the first foreign language in school was always one of the other national languages, although recently (2000) English was introduced first in a few cantons.

At the end of primary school (or at the beginning of secondary school), pupils are separated according to their capacities in several (often three) sections. The fastest learners are taught advanced classes to be prepared for further studies and the matura, while students who assimilate a little bit more slowly receive an education more adapted to their needs.

There are 12 universities in Switzerland, ten of which are maintained at cantonal level and usually offer a range of non-technical subjects. The first university in Switzerland was founded in 1460 in Basel (with a faculty of medicine) and has a tradition of chemical and medical research in Switzerland. The biggest university in Switzerland is the University of Zurich with nearly 25,000 students. The two institutes sponsored by the federal government are the ETHZ in Zurich (founded 1855) and the EPFL in Lausanne (founded 1969 as such, formerly an institute associated with the University of Lausanne) which both have an excellent international reputation.

In addition there are various Universities of Applied Sciences. In business and management studies, University of St. Gallen, (HSG) and International Institute for Management Development (IMD) are the leaders. Switzerland has the second highest rate of foreign students in tertiary education, after Australia.

Many Nobel prizes were awarded to Swiss scientists, for example to the world-famous physicist Albert Einstein in the field of physics who developed his theory of relativity while working in Bern. More recently Vladimir Prelog, Heinrich Rohrer, Richard Ernst, Edmond Fischer, Rolf Zinkernagel and Kurt Wüthrich received Nobel prizes in the sciences. In total, 113 Nobel Prize winners stand in relation to Switzerland and the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded 9 times to organisations residing in Switzerland.

Geneva and the nearby French department of Ain co-host the world's largest laboratory, CERN, dedicated to particle physics research. Another important research center is the Paul Scherrer Institute. Notable inventions include the lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), the scanning tunneling microscope (Nobel prize) or the very popular Velcro. Some technologies enabled the exploration of new worlds such as the pressurized balloon of Auguste Piccard and the Bathyscaphe which permitted Jacques Piccard to reach the deepest point of the world's oceans.

Switzerland Space Agency, the Swiss Space Office, has been involved in various space technologies and programs. In addition it was one of the 10 founders of the European Space Agency in 1975 and is the seventh largest contributor to the ESA budget. In the private sector, several companies are implicated in the space industry such as Oerlikon Space or Maxon Motors who provide spacecraft structures.

Switzerland and the European Union

Switzerland voted against membership in the European Economic Area in a referendum in December 1992 and has since maintained and developed its relationships with the European Union (EU) and European countries through bilateral agreements. In March 2001, the Swiss people refused in a popular vote to start accession negotiations with the EU. In recent years, the Swiss have brought their economic practices largely into conformity with those of the EU in many ways, in an effort to enhance their international competitiveness. The economy has been growing most recently at around 3% per year. Full EU membership is a long-term objective of some in the Swiss government, but there is considerable popular sentiment against this supported by the conservative SVP party. The western French-speaking areas and the urban regions of the rest of the country tend to be more pro-EU, however with far from any significant share of the population.

The government has established an Integration Office under the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Economic Affairs. To minimise the negative consequences of Switzerland's isolation from the rest of Europe, Bern and Brussels signed seven bilateral agreements to further liberalise trade ties. These agreements were signed in 1999 and took effect in 2001. This first series of bilateral agreements included the free movement of persons. A second series covering nine areas was signed in 2004 and has since been ratified. The second series includes the Schengen Treaty and the Dublin Convention. They continue to discuss further areas for cooperation.

In 2006, Switzerland approved a billion francs supportive investment in the poorer Southern and Central European countries in support of cooperation and positive ties to the EU as a whole. A further referendum will be needed to approve 300 million francs to support Romania and Bulgaria and their recent admission. The Swiss have also been under EU and sometimes international pressure to reduce banking secrecy and to raise tax rates to parity with the EU. Preparatory discussions are being opened in four new areas: opening up the electricity market, participation in the European GNSS project Galileo, cooperating with the European centre for disease prevention and recognising certificates of origin for food products.

On 27 November 2008, the interior and justice ministers of European Union in Brussels announced Switzerland's accession to the Schengen passport-free zone from 12 December 2008. The land border checkpoints will remain in place only for goods movements, but should not run controls on people, though people entering the country had their passports checked until 29 March 2009 if they originated from a Schengen nation.

Energy, infrastructure, and environment

Electricity generated in Switzerland is 56% from hydroelectricity and 39% from nuclear power, with 5% of the electricity generated from conventional power sources resulting in a nearly CO₂-free electricity-generating network. On 18 May 2003, two anti-nuclear initiatives were turned down: ''Moratorium Plus'', aimed at forbidding the building of new nuclear power plants (41.6% supported and 58.4% opposed), and Electricity Without Nuclear (33.7% supported and 66.3% opposed).

The former ten-year moratorium on the construction of new nuclear power plants was the result of a citizens' initiative voted on in 1990 which had passed with 54.5% Yes vs. 45.5% No votes. A new nuclear plant in the Canton of Bern is presently planned. The Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE) is the office responsible for all questions relating to energy supply and energy use within the Federal Department of Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC). The agency is supporting the 2000-watt society initiative to cut the nation's energy use by more than half by the year 2050.

On 25 May 2011 the Swiss government announced that it plans to end its use of nuclear energy in the next 2 or 3 decades. "The government has voted for a phaseout because we want to ensure a secure and autonomous supply of energy," Energy Minister Doris Leuthard said that day at a press conference in Bern. "Fukushima showed that the risk of nuclear power is too high, which in turn has also increased the costs of this energy form." The first reactor would reportedly be taken offline in 2019 and the last one in 2034. Parliament will discuss the plan in June 2011, and there could be a referendum as well.

The most dense rail network in Europe of carries over 350 million passengers annually. In 2007, each Swiss citizen travelled on average by rail, which makes them the keenest rail users. The network is administered mainly by the Federal Railways, except in Graubünden, where the narrow gauge railway is operated by the Rhaetian Railways and includes some World Heritage lines. The building of new railway base tunnels through the Alps is under way to reduce the time of travel between north and south through the AlpTransit project.

Swiss private-public managed road network is funded by road tolls and vehicle taxes. The Swiss autobahn/autoroute system requires the purchase of a vignette (toll sticker)—which costs 40 Swiss francs—for one calendar year in order to use its roadways, for both passenger cars and trucks. The Swiss autobahn/autoroute network has a total length of (as of 2000) and has, by an area of , also the one of the highest motorway densities in the world. Zurich Airport is Switzerland's largest international flight gateway, which handled 22.8 million passengers in 2010. The other international airports are Geneva Airport (11.8 million passengers), EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg which is located in France, Bern Airport, Lugano Airport, St. Gallen-Altenrhein Airport and Sion Airport.

Switzerland has one of the best environmental records among nations in the developed world; it was one of the countries to sign the Kyoto Protocol in 1998 and ratified it in 2003. With Mexico and the Republic of Korea it forms the Environmental Integrity Group (EIG). The country is heavily active in recycling and anti-littering regulations and is one of the top recyclers in the world, with 66% to 96% of recyclable materials being recycled, depending on the area of the country.

In many places in Switzerland, household garbage disposal is charged for. Garbage (except dangerous items, batteries etc.) is only collected if it is in bags which either have a payment sticker attached, or in official bags with the surcharge paid at the time of purchase. This gives a financial incentive to recycle as much as possible, since recycling is free. Illegal disposal of garbage is not tolerated but usually the enforcement of such laws is limited to violations that involve the unlawful disposal of larger volumes at traffic intersections and public areas. Fines for not paying the disposal fee range from CHF 200–500.

Switzerland also has internationally the most efficient system to recycle old newspapers and cardboard materials. Publicly organized collection by volunteers and economical railway transport logistics started as early as 1865 under the leadership of the notable industrialist Hans Caspar Escher (Escher Wyss AG) when the first modern Swiss paper manufacturing plant was built in Biberist.

Demographics

[[File:Sprachen CH 2000 EN.svg|thumb|250px|Official languages in Switzerland: ]]

Switzerland lies at the crossroads of several major European cultures that have heavily influenced the country's languages and culture. Switzerland has four official languages: German (63.7% total population share, with foreign residents; 72.5% of residents with Swiss citizenship, in 2000) in the north, east and centre of the country; French (20.4%; 21.0%) to the west; Italian (6.5%; 4.3%) in the south. Romansh (0.5%; 0.6%), a Romance language spoken locally in the southeastern trilingual canton of Graubünden, is designated by the Federal Constitution as a national language along with German, French and Italian (Article 4 of the Constitution), and as official language if the authorities communicate with persons of Romansh language (Article 70), but federal laws and other official acts do not need to be decreed in this language. The federal government is obliged to communicate in the official languages, and in the federal parliament simultaneous translation is provided from and into German, French and Italian.

The German spoken in Switzerland is predominantly a group of Alemannic dialects collectively known as Swiss German, but written communication typically use Swiss Standard German, whilst the majority of radio and TV broadcast is now in Swiss German as well. Similarly, there are some dialects of Franco-Provençal in rural communities in the French speaking part, known as "Suisse romande", called Vaudois, Gruérien, Jurassien, Empro, Fribourgeois, Neuchâtelois, and in the Italian speaking area, Ticinese (a dialect of Lombard). Moreover, the official languages (German, French and Italian) borrow some terms not understood outside of Switzerland, i.e. terms from other languages (German ''Billette'' from French), from similar term in another language (Italian ''azione'' used not as ''act'' but as ''discount'' from German ''Aktion''). Learning one of the other national languages at school is obligatory for all Swiss, so many Swiss are supposed to be at least bilingual, especially those belonging to minorities.

Resident foreigners and temporary foreign workers make up about 22% of the population. Most of these (60%) are from European Union or EFTA countries. Italians are the largest single group of foreigners with 17.3% of total foreign population. They are followed by Germans (13.2%), immigrants from Serbia and Montenegro (11.5%) as well as Portugal (11.3%). Immigrants from Sri Lanka, most of them former Tamil refugees, are the largest group among people of Asian origin. In the 2000s, domestic and international institutions have expressed concern about what they perceive as an increase of xenophobia, particularly in some political campaignings. However, the high proportion of foreign citizens in the country, as well as the generally unproblematic integration of foreigners, underlines Switzerland's openness.

Health

Swiss citizens are required to buy universal health insurance from private insurance companies, which in turn are required to accept every applicant. This system permits access to a broad range of modern medical services. The healthcare system compares well with other European countries and patients are largely satisfied with it. In 2006 life expectancy at birth was 79 years for men and 84 years for women. It is among the highest in the world. However, spending on health is particularly high, with 11.5% of GDP (2003) and, from 1990, a steady increase is observed, reflecting the high prices of the services provided. With aging populations and new healthcare technologies, health spending will likely continue to rise.

Urbanization

Between two thirds and three quarters of the population live in urban areas. Switzerland has gone from a largely rural country to an urban one in just 70 years. Since 1935 urban development has claimed as much of the Swiss landscape as it did during the previous 2,000 years. This urban sprawl does not only affect the plateau but also the Jura and the Alpine foothills and there are growing concerns about land use. However from the beginning of the 21st century, the population growth in urban areas is higher than in the countryside.

Switzerland has a dense network of cities, where large, medium and small cities are complementary. The plateau is very densely populated with about 450 people per km² and the landscape continually shows signs of man's presence. The weight of the largest metropolitan areas, which are Zurich, Geneva–Lausanne, Basel and Bern tend to increase. In international comparison the importance of these urban areas is stronger than their number of inhabitants suggests. In addition the two main centers of Zurich and Geneva are recognized for their particular great quality of life.

Religion

Switzerland has no official state religion, though most of the cantons (except Geneva and Neuchâtel) recognize official churches, which are either the Catholic Church or the Swiss Reformed Church. These churches, and in some cantons also the Old Catholic Church and Jewish congregations, are financed by official taxation of adherents.

Christianity is the predominant religion of Switzerland, divided between the Catholic Church (41.8% of the population) and various Protestant denominations (35.3%). Immigration has brought Islam (4.26%) and Eastern Orthodoxy (1.8%) as sizeable minority religions. Other Christian minority communities include Neo-Pietism (0.44%), Pentecostalism (0.28%, mostly incorporated in the Schweizer Pfingstmission), Methodism (0.13%), the New Apostolic Church (0.45%), Jehovah's Witnesses (0.28%), other Protestant denominations (0.20%), the Old Catholic Church (0.18%), other Christian denominations (0.20%). Minor non-Christian minority groups are Hinduism (0.38%), Buddhism (0.29%), Judaism (0.25%) and "other religions" (0.11%). 4.3% did not make a statement. The 2005 Eurobarometer poll found 48% to be theist, 39% expressing belief in "a spirit or life force", 9% atheist and 4% agnostic. Greeley (2003) found that 27% of the population does not believe in a God.

The country is historically about evenly balanced between Catholic and Protestant, with a complex patchwork of majorities over most of the country. One canton, Appenzell, was officially divided into Catholic and Protestant sections in 1597. The larger cities (Bern, Geneva, Zurich and Basel) are predominantly Protestant. Central Switzerland, as well as Ticino, is traditionally Catholic. The Swiss Constitution of 1848, under the recent impression of the clashes of Catholic vs. Protestant cantons that culminated in the Sonderbundskrieg, consciously defines a consociational state, allowing the peaceful co-existence of Catholics and Protestants. A 1980 initiative calling for the complete separation of church and state was rejected by 78.9% of the voters.

Culture

Three of Europe's major languages are official in Switzerland. Swiss culture is characterised by diversity, which is reflected in a wide range of traditional customs. A region may be in some ways strongly culturally connected to the neighbouring country that shares its language, the country itself being rooted in western European culture. The linguistically isolated Romansh culture in Graubünden in eastern Switzerland constitutes an exception, it survives only in the upper valleys of the Rhine and the Inn and strives to maintain its rare linguistic tradition.

Switzerland is home to many notable contributors to literature, art, architecture, music and sciences. In addition the country attracted a number of creative persons during time of unrest or war in Europe. Some 1000 museums are distributed through the country; the number has more than tripled since 1950. Among the most important cultural performances held annually are the Lucerne Festival, the Montreux Jazz Festival and the Locarno International Film Festival.

Alpine symbolism has played an essential role in shaping the history of the country and the Swiss national identity. Nowadays some concentrated mountain areas have a strong highly energetic ski resort culture in winter, and a hiking (wandering) or Mountain biking culture in summer. Other areas throughout the year have a recreational culture that caters to tourism, yet the quieter seasons are spring and autumn when there are fewer visitors. A traditional farmer and herder culture also predominates in many areas and small farms are omnipresent outside the cities. Folk art is kept alive in organisations all over the country. In Switzerland it is mostly expressed in music, dance, poetry, wood carving and embroidery. The alphorn, a trumpet- like musical instrument made of wood, has become alongside yodeling and the accordion an epitome of traditional Swiss music.

Literature

As the Confederation, from its foundation in 1291, was almost exclusively composed of German-speaking regions, the earliest forms of literature are in German. In the 18th century French became the fashionable language in Bern and elsewhere, while the influence of the French-speaking allies and subject lands was more marked than before.

Among the classics of Swiss German literature are Jeremias Gotthelf (1797–1854) and Gottfried Keller (1819–1890). The undisputed giants of 20th century Swiss literature are Max Frisch (1911–91) and Friedrich Dürrenmatt (1921–90), whose repertoire includes Die Physiker (The Physicists) and Das Versprechen (The Pledge), released in 2001 as a Hollywood film.

Prominent French-speaking writers were Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778) and Germaine de Staël (1766–1817). More recent authors include Charles Ferdinand Ramuz (1878–1947), whose novels describe the lives of peasants and mountain dwellers, set in a harsh environment and Blaise Cendrars (born Frédéric Sauser, 1887–1961). Also Italian and Romansh-speaking authors contributed but in more modest way given their small number.

The probably most famous Swiss literary creation, ''Heidi'', the story of an orphan girl who lives with her grandfather in the Alps, was one of the most popular children's books ever and has come to be a symbol of Switzerland. Her creator, Johanna Spyri (1827–1901), wrote a number of other books around similar themes.

Media

The freedom of the press and the right to free expression is guaranteed in the federal constitution of Switzerland. The Swiss News Agency (SNA) broadcasts information around-the-clock in three of the four national languages—on politics, economics, society and culture. The SNA supplies almost all Swiss media and a couple dozen foreign media services with its news.

Switzerland has historically boasted the greatest number of newspaper titles published in proportion to its population and size. The most influential newspapers are the German-language Tages-Anzeiger and Neue Zürcher Zeitung NZZ, and the French-language Le Temps, but almost every city has at least one local newspaper. The cultural diversity accounts for a large number of newspapers.

In contrast to the print media, the broadcast media has always been under greater control of the government. The Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, whose name was recently changed to SRG SSR idée suisse, is charged with the production and broadcast of radio and television programs. SRG SSR studios are distributed throughout the various language regions. Radio content is produced in six central and four regional studios while the television programs are produced in Geneva, Zurich and Lugano. An extensive cable network also allows most Swiss to access the programs from neighboring countries.

Sports

Skiing, snowboarding and mountaineering are among the most popular sports in Switzerland, the nature of the country being particularly suited for such activities. Winter sports are practiced by the natives and tourists since the second half of the 19th century with the invention of bobsleigh in St. Moritz. The first world ski championships were held in Mürren (1931) and St. Moritz (1934). The latter town hosted the second Winter Olympic Games in 1928 and the fifth edition in 1948. Among the most successful skiers and world champions are Pirmin Zurbriggen and Didier Cuche.

Many Swiss are fans of football and the national team or 'Nati' is widely supported. Switzerland was the joint host, with Austria, of the Euro 2008 tournament. Many Swiss also follow ice hockey and support one of the 12 clubs in the League A. In April 2009, Switzerland hosted the 2009 IIHF World Championship for the 10th time.. The National League A is the most attended league in Europe. The numerous lakes make Switzerland an attractive place for sailing. The largest, Lake Geneva, is the home of the sailing team Alinghi which was the first European team to win the America's Cup in 2003 and which successfully defended the title in 2007. Tennis has become an increasingly popular sport, and Swiss players such as Martina Hingis and Roger Federer have won multiple Grand Slams.

Motorsport racecourses and events were banned in Switzerland following the 1955 Le Mans disaster with exception to events such as Hillclimbing. However, this ban was overturned in June 2007. During this period, the country still produced successful racing drivers such as Clay Regazzoni, Jo Siffert and successful World Touring Car Championship driver Alain Menu. Switzerland also won the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport in 2007–08 with driver Neel Jani. Swiss motorcycle racer Thomas Lüthi won the 2005 MotoGP World Championship in the 125cc category.

Traditional sports include Swiss wrestling or "Schwingen". It is an old tradition from the rural central cantons and considered the national sport by some. Hornussen is another indigenous Swiss sport, which is like a cross between baseball and golf. Steinstossen is the Swiss variant of stone put, a competition in throwing a heavy stone. Practiced only among the alpine population since prehistoric times, it is recorded to have taken place in Basel in the 13th century. It is also central to the Unspunnenfest, first held in 1805, with its symbol the 83.5 kg stone named ''Unspunnenstein''.

Cuisine

The cuisine of Switzerland is multi-faceted. While some dishes such as fondue, raclette or rösti are omnipresent through the country, each region developed its own gastronomy according to the differences of climate and languages. Traditional Swiss cuisine uses ingredients similar to those in other European countries, as well as unique dairy products and cheeses such as Gruyère or Emmental, produced in the valleys of Gruyères and Emmental. The number of fine-dining establishments is high, particularly in western Switzerland.

Chocolate had been made in Switzerland since the 18th century but it gained its reputation at the end of the 19th century with the invention of modern techniques such as conching and tempering which enabled its production on a high quality level. Also a breakthrough was the invention of milk chocolate in 1875 by Daniel Peter. The Swiss are the world's largest consumers of chocolate.

The most popular alcoholic drink in Switzerland is wine. Switzerland is notable for the variety of grapes grown because of the large variations in terroirs, with their specific mixes of soil, air, altitude and light. Swiss wine is produced mainly in Valais, Vaud (Lavaux), Geneva and Ticino, with a small majority of white wines. Vineyards have been cultivated in Switzerland since the Roman era, even though certain traces can be found of a more ancient origin. The most widespread varieties are the Chasselas (called Fendant in Valais) and Pinot Noir. The Merlot is the main variety produced in Ticino.

See also

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References

;Notes ;References ;Bibliography

Church, Clive H. (2004) ''The Politics and Government of Switzerland''. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-69277-2.

Dalton, O.M. (1927) ''The History of the Franks, by Gregory of Tours''. Oxford: The Clarendon Press.

Fahrni, Dieter. (2003) ''An Outline History of Switzerland. From the Origins to the Present Day''. 8th enlarged edition. Pro Helvetia, Zürich. ISBN 3-908102-61-8

Historical Dictionary of Switzerland (2002–). Published electronically and in print simultaneously in three national languages of Switzerland.

External links

; Government

The Federal Authorities of the Swiss Confederation

Chief of State and Cabinet Members

Swissworld.org, Switzerland's information portal

Swiss Statistics, official website of the Swiss Federal Statistical Office

; Reference

Switzerland entry at ''Encyclopædia Britannica''

Switzerland at ''UCB Libraries GovPubs''

; Geography

Federal Office of Topography

Searchable interactive map (search.ch)

; Travel

MySwitzerland.com, official website of Switzerland Tourism

Worldofmaps.net, Online Maps of Switzerland

; History Historical Dictionary of Switzerland

History of Switzerland

Swiss American Historical Society

; Languages

swiss-linguistics.com Information portal on current linguistic research in Switzerland

; News media Neue Zürcher Zeitung , a Swiss daily newspaper Le Temps , a Swiss daily newspaper Corriere Del Ticino , a Swiss daily newspaper

swissinfo.ch, Swiss News – Worldwide

expatinch.com, Swiss media resources page

; Education

The Swiss School System

Swiss Universities Handbook

Universities in Switzerland

sieps.ch Information Services on Swiss Private Schools and Universities

; Science, research, and technology

The Swiss Portal for Research and Innovation

State Secretariat for Education and Research, SER

The Swiss National Science Foundation

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ace:Swiss af:Switserland als:Schweiz am:ስዊዘርላንድ ang:Sƿissland ar:سويسرا an:Suiza arc:ܣܘܝܣܪܐ frp:Suisse ast:Suiza az:İsveçrə bn:সুইজারল্যান্ড zh-min-nan:Sūi-se ba:Швейцария be:Швейцарыя be-x-old:Швайцарыя bcl:Suisa bar:Schweiz bo:སུད་སི། bs:Švicarska br:Suis bg:Швейцария ca:Suïssa cv:Швейцари ceb:Swisa cs:Švýcarsko co:Svizzera cy:Y Swistir da:Schweiz pdc:Schweiz de:Schweiz dv:ސުވިޒަލޭންޑު nv:Swis Bikéyah dsb:Šwicarska dz:སུའིཊ་ཛར་ལེན་ et:Šveits el:Ελβετία eml:Svézzra es:Suiza eo:Svislando ext:Suiça eu:Suitza ee:Switzerland fa:سوئیس hif:Switzerland fo:Sveis fr:Suisse fy:Switserlân fur:Svuizare ga:An Eilvéis gv:Yn Elveeish gag:Şveyțariya gd:An Eilbheis gl:Suíza - Schweiz gu:સ્વિત્ઝરલેન્ડ hak:Shuì-sṳ xal:Свисин Ниицән ko:스위스 haw:Kuikilani hy:Շվեյցարիա hi:स्विट्ज़रलैण्ड hsb:Šwicarska hr:Švicarska io:Suisia ilo:Switzerland bpy:সুইজারল্যান্ড id:Swiss ia:Suissa ie:Svissia os:Швейцари is:Sviss it:Svizzera he:שווייץ jv:Swiss kl:Schweizi kn:ಸ್ವಿಟ್ಜರ್ಲ್ಯಾಂಡ್ pam:Suiza krc:Швейцария ka:შვეიცარია csb:Szwajcarskô kk:Швейцария kw:Swistir rw:Ubusuwisi ky:Швейцария sw:Uswisi kv:Швейцария kg:Suisi ht:Swis ku:Swîsre lad:Suisa ltg:Šveicareja la:Helvetia lv:Šveice lb:Schwäiz lt:Šveicarija lij:Svissëa li:Zwitserland ln:Swisi jbo:elvetias lmo:Svìzzera hu:Svájc mk:Швајцарија mg:Soisa ml:സ്വിറ്റ്സർലാന്റ് mt:Żvizzera mr:स्वित्झर्लंड xmf:შვეიცარია arz:سويسرا ms:Switzerland mdf:Швайцарие mn:Швейцари my:ဆွစ်ဇာလန်နိုင်ငံ nah:Suiza na:Witsierand nl:Zwitserland nds-nl:Zwitserlaand ne:स्विजरल्याण्ड ja:スイス nap:Sguizzera ce:Швейцари frr:Swaits pih:Switsaland no:Sveits nn:Sveits nrm:Suisse nov:Suisia oc:Soïssa mhr:Швейцарий uz:Shveysariya pa:ਸਵਿਟਜ਼ਰਲੈਂਡ pfl:Schwaiz pag:Switzerland pnb:سویٹزرلینڈ pap:Suisa ps:سويس koi:Швейцарму pms:Svìssera tpi:Suwisalan nds:Swiez pl:Szwajcaria pnt:Ελβετία pt:Suíça kbd:Шуэцарэ kaa:Shveytsariya crh:İsviçre ro:Elveția rmy:Elveciya rm:Svizra qu:Suwisa rue:Швайцарія ru:Швейцария sah:Швейцария se:Šveica sa:स्विटजरलैंड sc:Isvìtzera sco:Swisserland stq:Swaits sq:Zvicra scn:Svìzzira simple:Switzerland ss:ISwizalandi sk:Švajčiarsko cu:Свицєра sl:Švica szl:Szwajcaryjo so:Iswisarland ckb:سویسرا sr:Швајцарска sh:Švajcarska su:Suis fi:Sveitsi sv:Schweiz tl:Suwisa ta:சுவிட்சர்லாந்து roa-tara:Svizzere tt:Швейцария te:స్విట్జర్లాండ్ tet:Suisa th:ประเทศสวิตเซอร์แลนด์ tg:Швейтсария tr:İsviçre tk:Şweýsariýa udm:Швейцария bug:Swiss uk:Швейцарія ur:سویٹزر لینڈ ug:شۋېتسارىيە za:Nyeiqswq vec:Svìzera vi:Thụy Sĩ vo:Jveizän fiu-vro:Sveits zh-classical:瑞士 war:Swiza wo:Suwis wuu:瑞士 yi:שווייץ yo:Swítsàlandì zh-yue:瑞士 diq:İswiçre zea:Zwitserland bat-smg:Šveicarėjė zh:瑞士

Cinema of Switzerland:

Notable personalities

Directors

Jean-Paul Cardinaux

Richard Dembo

Charles-Georges Duvanel

Kurt Früh

Jean-Luc Godard

Claude Goretta

Elena Hazanov

Thomas Koerfer

Xavier Koller

Markus Imhoof

Leopold Lindtberg

Franz Schnyder

Casimir Sivan

Alain Tanner

Producers

August Kern

Lazar Wechsler

Actors

Ursula Andress

Anne-Marie Blanc

Sibylle Blanc

Zarli Carigiet

Eliane Chappuis

Bruno Ganz

Heinrich Gretler

Emil Hegetschweiler

Max Haufler

Marthe Keller

Maximillian Schell

See also

Cinema of the world

List of Swiss films

World cinema

External links

Swiss Films

Swiss DVD

artfilm.ch Swiss Films in the theatres, television, DVD and VOD

Swiss Film Directory

All Swiss Films since 1896

*

de:Schweizer Film fr:Cinéma suisse ja:スイスの映画 ru:Кинематограф Швейцарии sv:Schweiz filmhistoria vi:Điện ảnh Thụy Sĩ

name	Pipilotti Rist
birth name	Elisabeth Charlotte Rist
birth date	June 21, 1962
birth place	Grabs, Canton of St. Gallen, Switzerland
nationality	Swiss
field	Video art
training	Institute of Applied Arts, Schule für Gestaltung
movement	feminism
works	Pepperminta, I'm Not The Girl Who Misses Much, Pickleporno, Ever is Over All
awards	Premio 2000 Prize }}

Elisabeth Charlotte Rist (born June 21, 1962 in Grabs, Canton of St. Gallen, Switzerland), known professionally as Pipilotti Rist is a visual artist.

Life and career

Rist was born in 1962 in Grabs, Sankt Gallen, in Switzerland. Since her childhood she has been nicknamed Pipilotti. The name refers to the novel Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren.

Rist studied at the University of Applied Arts Vienna in Vienna, through 1986. She later studied video at the School of Design (''Schule für Gestaltung'') in Basel, Switzerland. In 1997, her work was first featured in the Venice Biennial, where she was awarded the Premio 2000 Prize. From 1988 through 1994, she was member of the music band and performance group ''Les Reines Prochaines''. From 2002 to 2003, she was invited by Professor Paul McCarthy to teach at UCLA as a visiting faculty member.

Pipilotti Rist currently lives with her common law partner Balz Roth, with whom she has a son, named Himalaya.

From 2005 to 2009 she worked on her first feature film, ''Pepperminta''.

Works

During her studies Pipilotti Rist began making super 8 films. Her works generally last only a few minutes, and contained alterations in their colors, speed, and sound. Her works generally treat issues related to gender, sexuality, and the human body.

In contrast to those of many other conceptual artists, her colorful and musical works transmit a sense of happiness and simplicity. Rist's work is regarded as feminist by some art critics. Her works are held by many important art collections worldwide.

In ''I'm Not The Girl Who Misses Much'' (1986) Rist dances before a camera in a black dress with uncovered breasts. The images are often monochromatic and fuzzy. Rists repeatedly sings "I'm not the girl who misses much," a reference to the first line of the song "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" by the Beatles. As the video approaches its end, the image becomes increasingly blue and fuzzy and the sound stops.

Rist achieved notoriety with ''Pickelporno'' (''Pimple porno'') (1992), a work about the female body and the sexual excitation. The fisheye camera moves over the bodies of a couple. The images are charged by intense colors, and are simultaneously strange, sensual, and ambiguous.

''Ever is Over All'' (1997) shows in slow-motion a young woman walks along a city street, smashing the windows of parked cars with a large hammer in the shape of a tropical flower. At one point a police officer greets her. The audio video installation has been purchased by the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

Rist's nine video segments titled ''Open My Glade'' were played once every hour on a screen at Times Square in New York City, an project of the ''Messages to the Public'' program, which was founded in 1980.

Video and Audio Installation

Enlight My Space , video installation, 2008

The Blue Fairy in the Valley, video installation, 2007

Die gelbe Fee in der Allee , video installation, 2007

Ginas Mobile , video installation, 2007

Tyngdkraft, var min vän , audio video installation, 2007

A la belle étoile , audio video installation, 2007

Deine Raumkapsel , audio video installation, 2006

Celle selbst zu zweit, audio video installation by Gutararist aka Gudrun Gut & Pipilotti Rist, 2006

Despierta , audio video installation, 2001/2005

A Liberty Statue for Löndön , audio video installation, 2005

Daggrystimer i naboens hus , audio video and light installation, 2005

Homo Sapiens Sapiens, audio video installation in San Stae church Venice, 2005

Du erneuerst Dich (in Japanese) , audio video installation as an instant temple, 2004

Herz aufwühlen Herz ausspülen , audio video installation, 2004

Apple Tree Innocent On Diamond Hill , video installation, 2003

The Cake is in Flames , audio video installation, 2002

Related Legs (Yokohama Dandelions) , audio video installation, 2001

Expecting (Installation in/for Centraal Museum, Utrecht / Bovenkapel: When I Run I Use My Feet, Benedenkapel: One Jesus in Nature, One At The Doctor, One In The Hotel), audio video installation, 2001

Supersubjektiv , audio video installation, 2000/2001

Kleines Vorstadthirn Suburb Brain>, audio video installation, 1999/2001 bzw. 2007 bzw. 2009

Open My Glade (Flatten) <Öffne meine Lichtung>, video installation, 2000 video

Closet Circuit, video installation by Pipilotti Rist in collaboration with the toilet visitor, 2000

Himalaya’s Sister’s Living Room, audio video installation, 2000

Himalaya Goldsteins Stube , audio video installation, 1999

I Couldn’t Agree With You More, audio video installatio, 1999

Vorstadthirn , audio video installation, 1999

Cintia, audio video installation, 1994/99

Regenfrau (I Am Called A Plant) , audio video installation, 1999

Extremitäten (weich, weich) , audio video installation, 1999

Zeittunnel , 1998

Atmosphäre & Instinkt , audio video installation, 1998

Rote Bar , video installation by Pipilotti Rist, © with Gabrielle Hächler (architecture), 1997

My Boy, My Horse, My Dog, audio video slide installation, 1997

Ever Is Over All, audio video installation, 1997

Mutaflor, video installation, 1996

Shooting Divas, audio video installation, 1996

Sip My Ocean , audio video installation, 1996

Search Wolken / Such Clouds (elektronischer Heiratsantrag) , audio video installation, 1995

Fliegendes Zimmer , video installation, 1995

Das Zimmer , video installation, 1994/2000/2007

Yoghurt On Skin - Velvet On TV, audio video installation, 1994

Selbstlos im Lavabad , video installation, 1994

Eindrücke verdauen , video installation, 1993

Schminktischlein mit Feedback , audio video installatio, 1993

TV-Lüster , audio video installation, 1993

Eine Spitze in den Westen – ein Blick in den Osten (bzw. N-S) , audio video installation, 1992/1999

Movie and video

Pepperminta, long feature movie, 2009 - trailer website IMDB

To See How You See or a Portrait of Cornelia Providoli, video by Pipilotti Rist, produced for the Video Anthology of Blick Productions NY, sound by Anders Guggisberg & Pipilotti Rist, 5', 2003

Aujourd’hui (I Couldn’t Agree With You More, version chaise longue), video, Edition bdv, Paris, 9', 1999

I’m a Victim Of This Song , video by Pipilotti Rist, music after ”Wicked Games” written by Chris Isaak, interpreted & performed by Anders Guggisberg & Pipilotti Rist, 5’9’’, 1995

Blutclip , video by Pipilotti Rist, music “Yeah Yeah Yeah” by Sophisticated Boom Boom/Netz Maeschi, 2'27'', 1993 video

Als der Bruder meiner Mutter geboren wurde, duftete es nach wilden Birnenblüten vor dem braungebrannten Sims , video by Pipilotti Rist, sound by Heinz Rohrer & Pipilotti Rist, 3’48’’, 1992 video

Pickelporno , video, 12’06’’, 1992 video

You Called Me Jacky , video by Pipilotti Rist, music “Edna & Jacky” by Kevin Coyne, 4’02’’, 1990 video

(Entlastungen) Pipilottis Fehler <(Absolutions) Pipilotti’s Mistakes>, video by Pipilotti Rist. Multiple parts. Two pieces by Hans Feigenwinter, in one he plays a cover of ”Lost In Space”, one part “Bist Du klein ” by Les Reines Prochaines inclusive Pipilotti Rist, rest by Pipilotti Rist, 12’24’’, 1988 video

Sexy Sad I , video by Pipilotti Rist, sound with Lori Hersberger after the song “Sexy Sadie” by Lennon/Mc Cartney, 4’30’’, 1987 video

I’m Not The Girl Who Misses Much , video, 5’02'', 1986 video

Prizes

2010 - best architects 11 Award, best architects Award

2010 - Cutting the Edge Award, 27th Annual Miami International Film Festival

2009 - Best Exhibition Of Digital, Video, or Film: "Pour Your Body Out (7354 Cubic Meters)" at Museum of Modern Art, New York. 26th annual awards, The International Association of Art Critics (AICA)

2009 - President of the Jury’s EXTRAORDINARY AWARD (Nicolas Roeg), Seville European Film Festival '09

2009 - Joan Miró Prize, Barcelona

2007 - St. Galler Kulturpreis der St. Gallischen Kulturstiftung

2006 - Guggenheim Museums Young Collector's Council Annual Artist's Ball honouring Pipilotti Rist

2003 - 01 award and Honorary Professorship of the Universität der Künste, Berlin

2001 - Art Prize of the City of Zurich

1999 - Wolfgang-Hahn-Preis

1998 - Nomination for the Hugo Boss Prize

1997 - Renta Preis of the Kunsthalle Nürnberg

1997 - Premio 2000 of the Biennale di Venezia

1997 - Kwangju Biennale Award

1995 - Scholarship of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)

1994 - Video Art Prize of the Swiss Bank Corporation

1994 - Prix d’art contemporain de la Banque Cantonale Geneva

1994 - Manor-Prize, Sankt Gallen

1993 - Förderungspreis der Jubiläumstiftung der SBG

1993 - Eidgenössisches Kunststipendium

1992 - Zürcher Filmpreis

1991 - Swiss Federal Arts Scholarship

1989 - VIPER Lucerne

1988 - Prize of the Feminale Cologne

1987 - Film- und Videotage Basel

Literature

Publications

Morsiani, Paola/ Hanor, Stephanie/Harris, Mark/Morales, René/Yablonsky, Linda: "Wishing for Synchronicity: Works by Pipilotti Rist", Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Houston, 2009 [engl. version] (ISBN-978-1-933619-17-0)

Kempers, Paul/Schreuder, Catrien/Slyce, John/Wennekes, Emilie: ''Elixir: the video organism of Pipilotti Rist,'' Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam, 2009. (exh. cat.) [engl. & Dutch version] (ISBN 978-90-6918-237-7)

Rist, Pipilotti/Hara Museum of Contemporary Art (ed.): ''Karakaracan,'' Tokyo/Zürich, 2007. (Artist publication by the Hara Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo accompanying the exhibition "Karakara" at the Hara Museum. Designed by Thomas Rhyner.)

Magasin 3 (ed.): ''Pipilotti Rist - Congratulations!,'' Lars Müller Publishers, Baden, 2007 (exh. cat.) [engl., German & Swedish version] (ISBN 978-3-03778-108-1)

Rist, Pipilotti: ''Pepperminta Homo sapiens sapiens – boxa ludens,'' Lars Müller Publishers, Wettingen, 2005. (Artist publication edited by the Swiss Federal Office of Culture accompanying the exhibition at the Venice Biennale. Designed by Thomas Rhyner.) (ISBN 3-03778-051-7)

Söll, Änne: ''Pipilotti Rist, Artists Monographs,'' Vol. 3, Friedrich Christian Flick Collection, Dumont, Köln, 2005. [engl. & German version] (ISBN 3-83217-578-4)

MUSAC - Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Castilla y Leon: ''Soundtracks de las video instalaciones de Pipilotti Rist,'' 2005. (CD and booklet, contains music of the major installations by Pipilotti Rist, music by and with Anders Guggisberg, Peter Bräker, Les Reines Prochaines, Heinz Rohrer, Roland Widmer, Saadet Türköz, Cintia Buonomo, Gruss vom Walensee, Pipilotti Rist.)

Kempker, Birgit/Rist, Pipilotti: ''Jestem swoja wlasna obca swinia ,'' Centrum Sztuki Wspolczesnej Zamek Ujazdowski, 2004. (This artist book with a wild text of the German writer Birgit Kempker comes in Polish, German and English. Designed by Maciej Buszewicz.) (ISBN 83-88277-13-8)

Rist, Pipilotti: ''Apricots Along The Street,'' Scalo Zürich/Berlin/New York, 2001. (This is another freestyle artist book also designed by/with Thomas Rhyner with some gadgets. English with only the difficult words translated into Spanish and German.) (ISBN 3-908247-50-0)

Phelan, Peggy/Obrist, Hans Ulrich/Bronfen, Elisabeth: ''Pipilotti Rist,'' Phaidon Press Limited, London, 2001. (This is an informative monography with text and interviews by and with Peggy Phelan, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Elisabeth Bronfen and others.) (ISBN 0-7148-3965-5)

Rist, Pipilotti: ''Himalaya, Pipilotti Rist 50 kg,'' Oktagon Verlag Köln, 1998. This artist’s book [designed by Thomas Rhyner] including the music CD 'we can't' realised with Anders Guggisberg. It’s actually sold out but there are some copies left in national distribution centres like the one of Switzerland or USA.) (ISBN 3-89611-072-1)

About Pipilotti Rist

Saltz, Jerry: ''Re View,'' in: Monopol, Berlin, 3, 2009. (pp. 106-109)

Schjedal, Peter: ''Critic’s Notebook: Tune In, Turn On,'' in: New Yorker, New York, January 5, 2009.

Saltz, Jerry: “MoMA’s Sex Change: The museum’s Pipilotti Rist show cheekily feminizes a bastion of masculinity”, December 28, 2008

Beccaria, Marcella: ''Pipilotti Rist'', in: Castello di Rivoli, Museum of Contemporary Art: The Castle, The Collection, Skira, Milano, 2008. (pp. 446–449, exh. cat.)

Searle, Adrian: ''The gleeful anarchist,'' in: The Guardian, London, July 2, 2008.

Sanders, Mark: ''Pipilotti Rist,'' in: Another Magazine, London, No. 11, Autumn/Winter 2006. (pp. 426–439)

Söll, Änne: ''Arbeit am Körper. Videos und Videoinstallationen von Pipilotti Rist,'' Verlag Silke Schreiber, München, 2004. (ISBN 3-88960-069-7)

Baker, Kenneth: ''Stir Heart, Rinse Heart: Pipilotti Rist,'' in: San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco, March 2004. (pp. E1-E2)

Steiner, Rochelle (ed.): ''Wonderland,'' The Saint Louis Art Museum, 2000. (Interview pp. 90–95, exh. cat.)

Allen, Jennifer: ''Pipilotti Rist. Dans la peau de l'image,'' in: Parachute, Montréal, April/June 2000. (pp. 4–17)

Blase, Christoph: ''Pipilotti Rist, in: Art at the turn of the millennium. Ausblick auf das Jahrtausend,'' Benedikt Taschen Verlag Gmbh, Köln, 1999. (pp. 426–429)

Anderson, Laurie: ''Laurie Anderson and Pipilotti Rist Meet Up in the Lobby of a Hotel in Berlin on September 9,'' 1996, in: Parkett, Zürich/New York, No. 48, 1996. (pp. 114–119)

Elizabeth Janus: "Pipilotti Rist, video artist", Art Forum, Summer 1996

Colombo, Paolo: ''Shooting Divas,'' in: Parkett, Zürich/New York, No. 48, 1996. (pp. 109–113)

Spector, Nancy: ''The Mechanics of Fluids,'' in: Parkett, Zürich/New York, No. 48, 1996. (pp. 83–91)

Ursprung, Philip: ''Pipilotti Rists Fliegendes Zimmer,'' in: Parkett, Zürich/New York, No. 48, 1996. (pp. 94–98)

Änne Söll: "Der Traum vom Fliegen – Dienstleistung und Geschlecht in Pipilotti Rists 'Pamela'" (PDF)

References

External links

pipilottirist.net - Official Website

Pipilotti Rist in SIKART (Schweizerisches Institut für Kunstwissenschaft)

Website Galerie Hauser&Wirth; - Pipilotti Rist

Pepperminta

''Current exhibitions and connection to galleries at Artfacts.Net''

Videos

Compilation of 14 videos at UbuWeb

Works available at pipilottirist.net

Objekt: Der TV-Lüster (1993)

telemaquetime.free.fr: Many still images

newmedia-art.org - Various works (Real Video, QuickTime)

Rist gives a tour through SFMOMA's exhibit

Pipilotti Rist at the Goetz Collection, ZKM (QuickTime)

A look at Pipilotti Rist's recent exhibition Pour Your Body Out (7354 Cubic Meters)

An interview with Pipilotti Rist about the 'Elixir' exhibition

Interviews

Behind the Scenes with Pipilotti Rist, Pour Your Body Out (7354 Cubic Meters), MoMA

Elixir: The Video Organism of Pipilotti Rist on Arttube (Boijmans)

Interview on kfunigraz.ac.at (German)

Interview in Jungle World, 15. April 1998 (German)

Interview in Afterimages 11/2000

Interview in Contemporary, May 2007

Interview in KultureFlash, August 2008

Category:Contemporary artists Category:Video artists Category:1962 births Category:Living people Category:Swiss women artists Category:People from St. Gallen

bg:Пипилоти Рист ca:Pipilotti Rist de:Pipilotti Rist es:Pipilotti Rist fr:Pipilotti Rist it:Pipilotti Rist nl:Pipilotti Rist ja:ピピロッティ・リスト pl:Pipilotti Rist sv:Pipilotti Rist tr:Pipilotti Rist

Color	#B0C4DE
Name	Manuel de Landa
Birth date	1952
Birth place	Mexico City, Mexico
Main interests	MorphogenesisNonlinear dynamics }}

Manuel De Landa, (born 1952 in Mexico City), is a writer, artist and philosopher who has lived in New York since 1975. He is presently the Gilles Deleuze Chair of Contemporary Philosophy and Science at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland; a lecturer at the Canisius College in Buffalo, New York; a lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania School of Design in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and an adjunct professor at the Pratt Institute School of Architecture in Brooklyn, New York. He was previously an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Columbia University. De Landa has a BFA from New York's School of Visual Arts.

He is the author of ''War in the Age of Intelligent Machines'' (1991), ''A Thousand Years of Nonlinear History'' (1997), ''Intensive Science and Virtual Philosophy'' (2002) and ''A New Philosophy of Society: Assemblage Theory and Social Complexity'' (2006). He has published many articles and essays and lectured extensively in Europe and in the United States. His work focuses on the theories of the French philosopher Gilles Deleuze on one hand, and modern science, self-organizing matter, artificial life and intelligence, economics, architecture, chaos theory, history of science, nonlinear dynamics, cellular automata on the other.

De Landa became a principal figure in the "new materialism" based on his application of Deleuze's realist ontology. His universal research into "morphogenesis" - the production of the semi-stable structures out of material flows that are constitutive of the natural and social world - has been of interest to theorists across many academic and professional disciplines.

Alongside his intellectual work, De Landa made several short Super 8 and 16mm films in the 1970s and early 1980s. He pulled them from circulation after the original negatives were lost. In 2011, Anthology Film Archives restored and reissued them. Cited by filmmaker Nick Zedd in his Cinema of Transgression Manifesto, De Landa associated with many of the experimental and art filmmakers of this New York based movement. Much of De Landa's film work is inspired by his interest in philosophy and critical theory; one of his best known films, ''Raw Nerves'', has been described as a 'Lacanian thriller' by at least one critic.

His latest book (as of March 2011) is ''Philosophy and Simulation: The Emergence of Synthetic Reason'', which explores simulations of emergence in systems of different scales, from the atomic to the social.

Books

''War in the Age of Intelligent Machines'' (1991)

''A Thousand Years of Nonlinear History'' (1997)

''Intensive Science and Virtual Philosophy'' (2002)

''A New Philosophy of Society: Assemblage Theory and Social Complexity'' (2006)

''Deleuze: History and Science'' (2010)

''Philosophy & Simulation: The Emergence of Synthetic Reason'' (2011)

See also

Gilles Deleuze

Noosphere

Realism

Wargaming

External links

Manuel de Landa Faculty profile at European Graduate School EGS. Biography, bibliography, photos, quotes and video lectures.

Manuel DeLanda Annotated Bibliography with links to articles

Various texts

http://www.canisius.edu/topos/delanda.asp

Interview

Interview on ''Ctheory''

Other interview by Paul Miller

"Markets and antimarkets in the world economy" by DeLanda

Notes

Category:1952 births Category:Living people Category:Mexican philosophers Category:People from Buffalo, New York Category:Columbia University faculty Category:European Graduate School faculty Category:Cellular automatists

de:Manuel de Landa es:Manuel de Landa fr:Manuel de Landa pt:Manuel de Landa

Region	Western Philosophy
Era	20th-century philosophy
Color	#B0C4DE
Name	Gilles Deleuze
Birth date	18 January 1925
Birth place	Paris, France
Death date	November 04, 1995
Death place	Paris, France
School tradition	Continental philosophy Empiricism |main_interests AestheticsHistory of Western philosophyMetaphilosophy Metaphysics
Notable ideas	Affect AssemblageBody without organsDeterritorialization Line of flightPlane of immanenceRhizomeSchizoanalysis
Influences	Henri Bergson Friedrich Nietzsche Baruch Spinoza Félix Guattari David Hume Immanuel Kant Sigmund Freud Karl Marx Jean Wahl
Influenced	Michel Foucault Kathy Acker Eric Alliez Alexander BardManuel de Landa Michael HardtPierre KlossowskiGuy HocquenghemJean-Jacques LecercleBrian Massumi Antonio NegriLewis CallFélix GuattariKlaus Theweleit}}

Gilles Deleuze (), (18 January 1925 – 4 November 1995) was a French philosopher who, from the early 1960s until his death, wrote influentially on philosophy, literature, film, and art. His most popular works were the two volumes of ''Capitalism and Schizophrenia'': ''Anti-Oedipus'' (1972) and ''A Thousand Plateaus'' (1980), both co-written with Félix Guattari. His metaphysical treatise ''Difference and Repetition'' (1968) is considered by some scholars to be his magnum opus.

Life

Deleuze was born into a middle-class family in Paris and lived there for most of his life. His initial schooling was undertaken during World War II, during which time he attended the Lycée Carnot. He also spent a year in khâgne at the Lycée Henri IV. During the Nazi occupation of France, Deleuze's older brother, Georges, was arrested for his participation in the French Resistance, and died while in transit to a concentration camp. In 1944, Deleuze went to study at the Sorbonne. His teachers there included several noted specialists in the history of philosophy, such as Georges Canguilhem, Jean Hyppolite, Ferdinand Alquié, and Maurice de Gandillac, and Deleuze's lifelong interest in the canonical figures of modern philosophy owed much to these teachers. Nonetheless, Deleuze also found the work of non-academic thinkers such as Jean-Paul Sartre strongly attractive. He agrégated in philosophy in 1948.

Deleuze taught at various lycées (Amiens, Orléans, Louis le Grand) until 1957, when he took up a position at the Sorbonne. In 1953, he published his first monograph, ''Empiricism and Subjectivity'', on Hume. He married Denise Paul "Fanny" Grandjouan in 1956. From 1960 to 1964 he held a position at the Centre National de Recherche Scientifique. During this time he published the seminal ''Nietzsche and Philosophy'' (1962) and befriended Michel Foucault. From 1964 to 1969 he was a professor at the University of Lyon. In 1968 he published his two dissertations, ''Difference and Repetition'' (supervised by Gandillac) and ''Expressionism in Philosophy: Spinoza'' (supervised by Alquié).

In 1969 he was appointed to the University of Paris VIII at Vincennes/St. Denis, an experimental school organized to implement educational reform. This new university drew a number of talented scholars, including Foucault (who suggested Deleuze's hiring), and the psychoanalyst Félix Guattari. Deleuze taught at Vincennes until his retirement in 1987.

Deleuze, a heavy smoker, suffered from a debilitating pulmonary ailment throughout the final 25 years of his life. In his last decade this condition grew more severe and was compounded by respiratory problems. Although he had a lung removed, the disease had spread throughout his pulmonary system. Deleuze underwent a tracheotomy, lost the power of speech and considered himself "chained like a dog" to an oxygen machine. By the last years of his life, simple tasks such as handwriting required laborious effort. In 1995, he committed suicide, throwing himself from the window of his apartment. At the time of his death, Deleuze had announced his intention to write a book entitled ''La Grandeur de Marx'', and left behind two chapters of an unfinished project entitled ''Ensembles and Multiplicities'' (these chapters have been published as the essays "Immanence: A Life" and "The Actual and the Virtual"). He is buried in the cemetery of the village of Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat.

Upon Deleuze's death, his colleague Jean-François Lyotard sent a fax to ''Le Monde'', in which he wrote of his friend:

:"He was too tough to experience disappointments and resentments — negative affections. In this nihilist ''fin de siècle'', he was affirmation. Right through to illness and death. Why did I speak of him in the past? He laughed, he is laughing, he is here. It's your sadness, idiot, he'd say."

The novelist Michel Tournier, who knew Deleuze from their teen years onward, described him thus:

:"The ideas we threw about like cottonwool or rubber balls he returned to us transformed into hard and heavy iron or steel cannonballs. We quickly learnt to be in awe of his gift for catching us red-handed in the act of cliché-mongering, talking rubbish, or loose thinking. He had the knack of translating, transposing. As it passed through him, the whole of worn-out academic philosophy re-emerged unrecognisable, totally refreshed, as if it has not been properly digested before. It was all fiercely new, completely disconcerting, and it acted as a goad to our feeble minds and our slothfulness."

Deleuze himself almost entirely demurred from autobiography. When once asked to talk about his life, he replied: "Academics' lives are seldom interesting." When a critic seized upon Deleuze's unusually long, uncut fingernails as a revealing eccentricity, he replied: "I haven't got the normal protective whorls, so that touching anything, especially fabric, causes such irritation that I need long nails to protect them." Deleuze concludes his reply to this critic thus:

:"What do you know about me, given that I believe in secrecy? ... If I stick where I am, if I don't travel around, like anyone else I make my inner journeys that I can only measure by my emotions, and express very obliquely and circuitously in what I write. ... Arguments from one's own privileged experience are bad and reactionary arguments."

Philosophy

Deleuze's works fall into two groups: on one hand, monographs interpreting the work of other philosophers (Spinoza, Leibniz, Hume, Kant, Nietzsche, Bergson, Foucault) and artists (Proust, Kafka, Francis Bacon); on the other, eclectic philosophical tomes organized by concept (e.g., difference, sense, events, schizophrenia, cinema, philosophy). Regardless of topic, however, Deleuze consistently develops variations on similar ideas.

Metaphysics

Deleuze's main philosophical project in his early works (i.e., those prior to his collaborations with Guattari) can be baldly summarized as a systematic inversion of the traditional metaphysical relationship between identity and difference. Traditionally, difference is seen as derivative from identity: e.g., to say that "X is different from Y" assumes some X and Y with at least relatively stable identities. To the contrary, Deleuze claims that all identities are effects of difference. Identities are neither logically nor metaphysically prior to difference, Deleuze argues, "given that there exist differences of nature between things of the same genus." That is, not only are no two things ever the same, the categories we use to identify individuals in the first place derive from differences. Apparent identities such as "X" are composed of endless series of differences, where "X" = "the difference between x and x'", and "x" = "the difference between...", and so forth. Difference goes all the way down. To confront reality honestly, Deleuze claims, we must grasp beings exactly as they are, and concepts of identity (forms, categories, resemblances, unities of apperception, predicates, etc.) fail to attain difference in itself. "If philosophy has a positive and direct relation to things, it is only insofar as philosophy claims to grasp the thing itself, according to what it is, in its difference from everything it is not, in other words, in its ''internal difference''."

Like Kant and Bergson, Deleuze considers traditional notions of space and time as unifying forms imposed by the subject. Therefore he concludes that pure difference is non-spatio-temporal; it is an idea, what Deleuze calls "the virtual". (The coinage refers not to the "virtual reality" of the computer age, but to Proust's definition of what is constant in both the past and the present: "real without being actual, ideal without being abstract.") While Deleuze's virtual ideas superficially resemble Plato's forms and Kant's ideas of pure reason, they are not originals or models, nor do they transcend possible experience; instead they are the conditions of actual experience, the internal difference in itself. "The concept they [the conditions] form is identical to its object." A Deleuzean idea or concept of difference is not a wraith-like abstraction of an experienced thing, it is a real system of differential relations that creates actual spaces, times, and sensations.

Thus Deleuze, alluding to Kant and Schelling, at times refers to his philosophy as a ''transcendental empiricism''. In Kant's transcendental idealism, experience only makes sense when organized by forms of sensibility (namely, space and time) and intellectual categories (such as causality). Assuming the content of these forms and categories to be qualities of the world as it exists independently of our perceptual access, according to Kant, spawns seductive but senseless metaphysical beliefs. (For example, extending the concept of causality beyond possible experience results in unverifiable speculation about a first cause.) Deleuze inverts the Kantian arrangement: experience exceeds our concepts by presenting novelty, and this raw experience of difference actualizes an idea, unfettered by our prior categories, forcing us to invent new ways of thinking (see below, ''Epistemology'').

Simultaneously, Deleuze claims that being is univocal, i.e., that all of its senses are affirmed in one voice. Deleuze borrows the doctrine of ''ontological univocity'' from the medieval philosopher John Duns Scotus. In medieval disputes over the nature of God, many eminent theologians and philosophers (such as Thomas Aquinas) held that when one says that "God is good", God's goodness is only analogous to human goodness. Scotus argued to the contrary that when one says that "God is good", the goodness in question is exactly the same sort of goodness that is meant when one says "Jane is good". That is, God only differs from us in degree, and properties such as goodness, power, reason, and so forth are univocally applied, regardless of whether one is talking about God, a man, or a flea.

Deleuze adapts the doctrine of univocity to claim that being is, univocally, difference. "With univocity, however, it is not the differences which are and must be: it is being which is Difference, in the sense that it is said of difference. Moreover, it is not we who are univocal in a Being which is not; it is we and our individuality which remains equivocal in and for a univocal Being." Here Deleuze at once echoes and inverts Spinoza, who maintained that everything that exists is a modification of the one substance, God or Nature. For Deleuze, there is no one substance, only an always-differentiating process, an origami cosmos, always folding, unfolding, refolding. Deleuze summarizes this ontology in the paradoxical formula "pluralism = monism".

''Difference and Repetition'' is Deleuze's most sustained and systematic attempt to work out the details of such a metaphysics, but his other works develop similar ideas. In ''Nietzsche and Philosophy'' (1962), for example, reality is a play of forces; in ''Anti-Oedipus'' (1972), a "body without organs"; in ''What Is Philosophy?'' (1991), a "plane of immanence" or "chaosmos".

Epistemology

Deleuze's unusual metaphysics entails an equally atypical epistemology, or what he calls a transformation of "the image of thought". According to Deleuze, the traditional image of thought, found in philosophers such as Aristotle, Descartes, and Husserl, misconceives of thinking as a mostly unproblematic business. Truth may be hard to discover—it may require a life of pure theorizing, or rigorous computation, or systematic doubt—but thinking is able, at least in principle, to correctly grasp facts, forms, ideas, etc. It may be practically impossible to attain a God's-eye, neutral point of view, but that is the ideal to approximate: a disinterested pursuit that results in a determinate, fixed truth; an orderly extension of common sense. Deleuze rejects this view as papering over the metaphysical flux, instead claiming that genuine thinking is a violent confrontation with reality, an involuntary rupture of established categories. Truth changes what we think; it alters what we think is possible. By setting aside the assumption that thinking has a natural ability to recognize the truth, Deleuze says, we attain a "thought without image", a thought always determined by problems rather than solving them. "All this, however, presupposes codes or axioms which do not result by chance, but which do not have an intrinsic rationality either. It's just like theology: everything about it is quite rational if you accept sin, the immaculate conception, and the incarnation. Reason is always a region carved out of the irrational—not sheltered from the irrational at all, but traversed by it and only defined by a particular kind of relationship among irrational factors. Underneath all reason lies delirium, and drift."

Deleuze's peculiar readings of the history of philosophy stem from this unusual epistemological perspective. To read a philosopher is no longer to aim at finding a single, correct interpretation, but is instead to present a philosopher's attempt to grapple with the problematic nature of reality. "Philosophers introduce new concepts, they explain them, but they don't tell us, not completely anyway, the problems to which those concepts are a response. [...] The history of philosophy, rather than repeating what a philosopher says, has to say what he must have taken for granted, what he didn't say but is nonetheless present in what he did say." (See below, ''Deleuze's interpretations''.)

Likewise, rather than seeing philosophy as a timeless pursuit of truth, reason, or universals, Deleuze defines philosophy as the creation of concepts. For Deleuze, concepts are not identity conditions or propositions, but metaphysical constructions that define a range of thinking, such as Plato's ideas, Descartes's cogito, or Kant's doctrine of the faculties. A philosophical concept "posits itself and its object at the same time as it is created." In Deleuze's view, then, philosophy more closely resembles practical or artistic production than it does an adjunct to a definitive scientific description of a pre-existing world (as in the tradition of Locke or Quine).

In his later work (from roughly 1981 onward), Deleuze sharply distinguishes art, philosophy, and science as three distinct disciplines, each analyzing reality in different ways. While philosophy creates concepts, the arts create novel qualitative combinations of sensation and feeling (what Deleuze calls "percepts" and "affects"), and the sciences create quantitative theories based on fixed points of reference such as the speed of light or absolute zero (which Deleuze calls "functives"). According to Deleuze, none of these disciplines enjoy primacy over the others: they are different ways of organizing the metaphysical flux, "separate melodic lines in constant interplay with one another." For example, Deleuze does not treat cinema as an art representing an external reality, but as an ontological practice that creates different ways of organizing movement and time. Philosophy, science, and art are equally, and essentially, creative and practical. Hence, instead of asking traditional questions of identity such as "is it true?" or "what is it?", Deleuze proposes that inquiries should be functional or practical: "what does it do?" or "how does it work?"

Values

In ethics and politics, Deleuze again echoes Spinoza, albeit in a sharply Nietzschean key. In a classical liberal model of society, morality begins from individuals, who bear abstract natural rights or duties set by themselves or a God. Following his rejection of any metaphysics based on identity, Deleuze criticizes the notion of an individual as an arresting or halting of differentiation (as the etymology of the word "individual" suggests). Guided by the naturalistic ethics of Spinoza and Nietzsche, Deleuze instead seeks to understand individuals and their moralities as products of the organization of pre-individual desires and powers. In the two volumes of ''Capitalism and Schizophrenia'', Deleuze and Guattari describe history as a congealing and regimentation of "desiring-production" (a concept combining features of Freudian drives and Marxist labor) into the modern individual (typically neurotic and repressed), the nation-state (a society of continuous control), and capitalism (an anarchy domesticated into infantilizing commodification). Deleuze, following Marx, welcomes capitalism's destruction of traditional social hierarchies as liberating, but inveighs against its homogenization of all values to the aims of the market.

But how does Deleuze square his pessimistic diagnoses with his ethical naturalism? Deleuze claims that standards of value are internal or immanent: to live well is to fully express one's power, to go to the limits of one's potential, rather than to judge what exists by non-empirical, transcendent standards. Modern society still suppresses difference and alienates persons from what they can do. To affirm reality, which is a flux of change and difference, we must overturn established identities and so become all that we can become—though we cannot know what that is in advance. The pinnacle of Deleuzean practice, then, is creativity. "Herein, perhaps, lies the secret: to bring into existence and not to judge. If it is so disgusting to judge, it is not because everything is of equal value, but on the contrary because what has value can be made or distinguished only by defying judgment. What expert judgment, in art, could ever bear on the work to come?"

Deleuze's interpretations

Deleuze's studies of individual philosophers and artists are purposely heterodox. In ''Nietzsche and Philosophy'', for example, Deleuze claims that Nietzsche's ''On the Genealogy of Morality'' is an attempt to rewrite Kant's ''Critique of Pure Reason'', even though Nietzsche nowhere mentions the First Critique in the ''Genealogy'', and the ''Genealogy'''s moral topics are far removed from the epistemological focus of Kant's book. Likewise, Deleuze claims that univocity is the organizing principle of Spinoza's philosophy, despite the total absence of the term from any of Spinoza's works. Deleuze once famously described his method of interpreting philosophers as "buggery (''enculage'')", as sneaking behind an author and producing an offspring which is recognizably his, yet also monstrous and different.

The various monographs thus are not attempts to present what Nietzsche or Spinoza strictly intended, but re-stagings of their ideas in different and unexpected ways. Rather than misinterpretation, Deleuze's peculiar readings aim to enact the creativity he believes is the acme of philosophical practice. A parallel in painting Deleuze points to is Francis Bacon's ''Study after Velázquez''—it is quite beside the point to say that Bacon "gets Velasquez wrong". Similar considerations apply, in Deleuze's view, to his own uses of mathematical and scientific terms, ''pace'' critics such as Alan Sokal: "I'm not saying that Resnais and Prigogine, or Godard and Thom, are doing the same thing. I'm pointing out, rather, that there are remarkable similarities between scientific creators of functions and cinematic creators of images. And the same goes for philosophical concepts, since there are distinct concepts of these spaces."

Reception

Deleuze's ideas have not spawned a school, as Lacan's did. But his major collaborations with Guattari (''Anti-Oedipus'', ''A Thousand Plateaus'', and ''What Is Philosophy?'') were best-sellers in France, and his work is frequently cited in English-speaking academia (in 2007, e.g., he was the 11th most frequently cited author in English-speaking publications in the humanities, between Freud and Kant).

In the 1960s, Deleuze's portrayal of Nietzsche as a metaphysician of difference rather than a reactionary mystic contributed greatly to the plausibility of "left-wing Nietzscheanism" as an intellectual stance. His books ''Difference and Repetition'' (1968) and ''The Logic of Sense'' (1969) led Michel Foucault to declare that "one day, perhaps, this century will be called Deleuzian." (Deleuze, for his part, said Foucault's comment was "a joke meant to make people who like us laugh, and make everyone else livid.") In the 1970s, the ''Anti-Oedipus'', written in a style by turns vulgar and esoteric, offering a sweeping analysis of the family, language, capitalism, and history via eclectic borrowings from Freud, Marx, Nietzsche, and dozens of other writers, was received as a theoretical embodiment of the anarchic spirit of May 1968. In 1994 and 1995, ''L'Abécédaire de Gilles Deleuze'', an eight-hour series of interviews between Deleuze and Claire Parnet, aired on France's Arte Channel (a still from the program appears in the infobox above).

In the 1980s and 1990s, almost all of Deleuze's books were translated into English. Like his contemporaries Foucault, Derrida, and Lyotard, Deleuze's influence has been most strongly felt in North American humanities departments, particularly in literary theory, where ''Anti-Oedipus'' and ''A Thousand Plateaus'' are oft regarded as major statements of post-structuralism and postmodernism, though neither Deleuze nor Guattari described their work in those terms. Likewise in the English-speaking academy, Deleuze's work is typically classified as "continental philosophy".

Deleuze has attracted critics as well. The following list is not exhaustive, and gives only the briefest of summaries.

In ''Modern French Philosophy'' (1979), Vincent Descombes argues that Deleuze's account of a difference that is not derived from identity (in ''Nietzsche and Philosophy'') is incoherent, and that his analysis of history in ''Anti-Oedipus'' is 'utter idealism', criticizing reality for falling short of a non-existent ideal of schizophrenic becoming.

In ''What Is Neostructuralism?'' (1984), Manfred Frank claims that Deleuze's theory of individuation as a process of bottomless differentiation fails to explain the unity of consciousness.

In "The Decline and Fall of French Nietzscheo-Structuralism" (1994), Pascal Engel presents a wholesale condemnation of Deleuze's thought. According to Engel, Deleuze's metaphilosophical approach makes it impossible to reasonably disagree with a philosophical system, and so destroys meaning, truth, and philosophy itself. Engel summarizes Deleuze's metaphilosophy thus: "When faced with a beautiful philosophical concept you should just sit back and admire it. You should not question it."

In ''The Mask of Enlightenment'' (1995) Stanley Rosen objects to Deleuze's interpretation of Nietzsche's eternal return.

In ''Deleuze: The Clamor of Being'' (1997), Alain Badiou claims that Deleuze's metaphysics only apparently embraces plurality and diversity, remaining at bottom relentlessly monist. Badiou further argues that, in practical matters, Deleuze's monism entails an ascetic, aristocratic fatalism akin to ancient Stoicism.

In ''Reconsidering Difference'' (1997), Todd May argues that Deleuze's claim that difference is ontologically primary ultimately contradicts his embrace of immanence, i.e., his monism. However, May believes that Deleuze can discard the primacy-of-difference thesis, and accept a Wittgensteinian holism without significantly altering his practical philosophy.

In ''Fashionable Nonsense'' (1997), Alan Sokal and Jean Bricmont accuse Deleuze of abusing mathematical and scientific terms, particularly by sliding between accepted technical meanings and his own idiosyncratic use of those terms in his philosophical system. (But see above, ''Deleuze's interpretations''.) Deleuze's writings on subjects such as calculus and quantum mechanics are, according to Sokal and Bricmont, vague, meaningless, or unjustified. However, by Sokal and Bricmont's own admission, they suspend judgment about Deleuze's philosophical theories and terminology.

In ''Organs without Bodies'' (2003), Slavoj Žižek claims that Deleuze's ontology oscillates between materialism and idealism, and that the Deleuze of ''Anti-Oedipus'' ("arguably Deleuze's worst book"), the "political" Deleuze under the "'bad' influence" of Guattari, ends up, despite protestations to the contrary, as "the ideologist of late capitalism". Žižek also calls Deleuze to task for allegedly reducing the subject to "just another" substance and thereby failing to grasp the nothingness that, according to Lacan and Žižek, defines subjectivity. What remains worthwhile in Deleuze's oeuvre, Žižek finds, are precisely those concepts closest to Žižek's own ideas.

In ''Out of this World: Deleuze and the Philosophy of Creation'' (2006), Peter Hallward argues that Deleuze's insistence that being is necessarily creative and always-differentiating entails that his philosophy can offer no insight into, and is supremely indifferent to, the material, actual conditions of existence. Thus Hallward claims that Deleuze's thought is literally other-worldly, aiming only at a passive contemplation of the dissolution of all identity into the theophanic self-creation of nature.

Endnotes

Bibliography

(Near complete bibliography, including various translations)

; By Gilles Deleuze

''Empirisme et subjectivité'' (1953). Trans. ''Empiricism and Subjectivity'' (1991).

''Nietzsche et la philosophie'' (1962). Trans. ''Nietzsche and Philosophy'' (1983).

''La philosophie critique de Kant'' (1963). Trans. ''Kant's Critical Philosophy'' (1983).

''Proust et les signes'' (1964, 2nd exp. ed. 1976). Trans. ''Proust and Signs'' (1973, 2nd exp. ed. 2000).

''Nietzsche'' (1965). Trans. in ''Pure Immanence'' (2001).

''Le Bergsonisme'' (1966). Trans. ''Bergsonism'' (1988).

''Présentation de Sacher-Masoch'' (1967). Trans. ''Masochism: Coldness and Cruelty'' (1989).

''Différence et répétition'' (1968). Trans. ''Difference and Repetition'' (1994).

''Spinoza et le problème de l'expression'' (1968). Trans. ''Expressionism in Philosophy: Spinoza'' (1990).

''Logique du sens'' (1969). Trans. ''The Logic of Sense'' (1990).

''Spinoza - Philosophie pratique'' (1970, 2nd ed. 1981). Trans. ''Spinoza: Practical Philosophy'' (1988).

''Dialogues'' (1977, 2nd exp. ed. 1996, with Claire Parnet). Trans. ''Dialogues'' (1987, 2nd exp. ed. 2002).

''Superpositions'' (1979).

''Francis Bacon - Logique de la sensation'' (1981). Trans. ''Francis Bacon: The Logic of Sensation'' (2003).

''Cinéma I: L'image-mouvement'' (1983). Trans. ''Cinema 1: The Movement-Image'' (1986).

''Cinéma II: L'image-temps'' (1985). Trans. ''Cinema 2: The Time-Image'' (1989).

''Foucault'' (1986). Trans. ''Foucault'' (1988).

''Le pli - Leibniz et le baroque'' (1988). Trans. ''The Fold: Leibniz and the Baroque'' (1993).

''Périclès et Verdi: La philosophie de Francois Châtelet'' (1988). Trans. in ''Dialogues II,'' revised ed. (2007).

''Pourparlers'' (1990). Trans. ''Negotiations'' (1995).

''Critique et clinique'' (1993). Trans. ''Essays Critical and Clinical'' (1997).

''Pure Immanence'' (2001).

''L'île déserte et autres textes'' (2002). Trans. ''Desert Islands and Other Texts 1953-1974'' (2003).

''Deux régimes de fous et autres textes'' (2004). Trans. ''Two Regimes of Madness: Texts and Interviews 1975-1995'' (2006).

; In collaboration with Félix Guattari:

''Capitalisme et Schizophrénie 1. L'Anti-Œdipe'' (1972). Trans. ''Anti-Oedipus'' (1977).

''Kafka: Pour une Littérature Mineure'' (1975). Trans. ''Kafka: Toward a Minor Literature'' (1986).

''Rhizome'' (1976). Trans., in revised form, in ''A Thousand Plateaus'' (1987)

''Nomadology: The War Machine'' (1986). Trans. in ''A Thousand Plateaus'' (1987)

''Capitalisme et Schizophrénie 2. Mille Plateaux'' (1980). Trans. ''A Thousand Plateaus'' (1987).

''Qu'est-ce que la philosophie?'' (1991). Trans. ''What Is Philosophy?'' (1994).

; In collaboration with Michel Foucault:

"The Intellectuals and Power: A Discussion Between Gilles Deleuze and Michel Foucault". ''TELOS'' 16 (Summer 1973). New York: Telos Press (Reprinted in ''L'île déserte et autres textes'' / ''Desert Islands and Other Texts'', above.)

Most of Deleuze's courses are available, in several languages, here.

Documentary

''L'Abécédaire de Gilles Deleuze'', with Claire Parnet, produced by Pierre-André Boutang. Editions Montparnasse.

See also

Affect (philosophy)

Concept

Deterritorialization

Gilbert Simondon's theory of physical, biological, psychic and collective individuation

Minority (philosophy)

Percept

Plane of immanence

Problem of future contingents

Rhizome (philosophy)

Schizoanalysis

Virtual

External links

The French Wikipedia page on Deleuze

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: "Gilles Deleuze", by Daniel Smith & John Protevi.

Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Gilles Deleuze", by Jon Roffe.

CapitalismAndSchizophrhttp://enia.org, a wiki about the works of Deleuze and Guattari

Webdeleuze - Courses & audio , , , , , etc.

A/V the International E-Journal for Deleuze Studies, with a network/community, streamed video lectures and a catalogue of links and online papers.

Alain Badiou, "The Event in Deleuze." (English translation).

Lectures and notes on work by Deleuze and Guattari.

Rhizomes. Online journal inspired by Deleuzian thought.

The Journal of French Philosophy - the online home of the Bulletin de la Société Américaine de Philosophie de Langue Française

Web resources from Wayne State University.

"A hypertext glossary of Deleuzean/Guattarian terms" by Rob Shields and Mickey Vallee.

La métaphysique de Deleuze, by Arnaud Villani (French text)

''Deleuze's Philosophical Lineage'', Edited by Graham Jones and Jon Roffe, University of Edinburgh Press, 2009.

Deleuze Category:1925 births Category:1995 deaths Category:Writers from Paris Category:20th-century philosophers Category:20th-century French philosophers Category:Anti-psychiatry Category:Continental philosophers Category:Empiricists Category:University of Paris alumni Category:French philosophers Category:Postmodern theory Category:Poststructuralism Category:Social philosophy Category:Suicides by jumping from a height Category:Suicides in France Category:Writers who committed suicide Category:Philosophers who committed suicide Category:Deaths by defenestration Category:Franz Kafka scholars

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