Matthias Erne
Zurichois lawyer.

With the Soviet Union disintegrated 1991 a multi-ethnic state, in which lived about 100 ethnic groups. The political elites in the successor states then faced the problem of creating an independent national identity in order to protect themselves in the long term against reintegration into a successor realm. For ideological reasons, the leadership of the Soviet Union never paid much attention to the question of nationality. Relations between Soviet republics were close in every respect, and (...)

Zurichois lawyer Matthias Erne responds to the controversy that swirled around the views expressed by a celebrated military journalist, Peter Forster. The latter openly took issue with the Federal Council’s questioning of Swiss neutrality. Can a journalist working for the state express a personal opinion against the government that employs him? And on whose initiative can Switzerland’s neutrality be called into question: the Federal Council’s or that of the Swiss people?