Word: ands
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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In a referendum, 35.6% of voters backed a proposal to abolish the military. The results shocked the country's political and military establishment. Few expected the measure to garner more than 25% of the tally. President Jean- Pascal Delamuraz once called the initiative "an idiocy as big as the Matterhorn...
Dismantling an army, of course, is an extraordinary step. The only precedent is provided by Costa Rica, which discarded its military in 1949. In Switzerland any such development would change the fabric of the nation, given the unique and even mythic status the army enjoys. For a country that has...
Virtually every man serves -- and serves and serves. Currently, all those who are able-bodied go through a 17-week training course when they are 20 years old and annual refresher courses and deployments of three weeks or more, depending on their rank, until they are 32, when the demands...
Thus, considerably more was at stake in the referendum than the $3 billion spent each year by the military. One survey by the Lausanne-based research institute MIS showed that only 15% of voters really wanted to get rid of the army. The rest wanted the army reformed and defense...
Resentment against the army's influence over civil society almost certainly played a role. In a recent survey, 73% of those questioned said officers have a better chance of promotion in civilian life, 59% thought their boss was an officer, and 34% added that he continued to treat them like...