Switzerland Facts
Area:    41,290 sq. km.
Capital:    Berne
Total Population:    7,260,000 (source: U.S. Census Bureau, 1998, est.)

Risk Assessment | Analytic Summary | References

Risk Assessment

There is little likelihood that Jurassians will support future rebellious activity. There have been no reports of protests for some time, and the issues of concern to Jurassian political organizations do not appear to be of much salience for the majority of the group. Both the German and French speaking populations of the Jura appear to be content to work within the political system to pursue their goals. There also is little current concern in the rest of Switzerland about the Jura region. It should be noted however that while violence by militants in the past was limited and episodic, it may recur at any time. Also, information on the activities of the separatists is difficult to come by in the English-language press and it is possible that some relevant political activities are not being reported.

Analytic Summary

Jura is a canton located in the northwest of Switzerland. It was created out of the larger canton Bern in 1979 in an attempt to accommodate the linguistic and religious differences that existed between predominantly German-protestant Bern and the heavily French and Roman Catholic Jura (approximately 72%). Unfortunately tension has remained between the two religious and linguistic groups (BELIEF and ETHDIFXX = 2 ), as a result of the minority of German speaking people left in the canton, most found in the south (GROUPCON = 3). Additionally, not all of the French-speaking and Catholic regions were included in the new canton, causing tension between the new canton and canton Bern. While there are tensions within the canton, there are no demographic disadvantages (DEMSTR03 = 0) and the Jurassians are free from economic and political discrimination (POLDIS03 = 0, ECODIS03 = 0). There have been no reported instances of government repression.

Within the Jura there are two key issues. The first is to gain greater power for the region to handle its own affairs, and the second is the belief that the entire Jura region (the area now the Jura Canton, and the remaining French-Catholic areas still part of Bern) should be unified. The interests of the Jura are represented by the Beiler party and by the Rassemblement Jurassien (Jura Gathering) which was the original separatist party in the region, but now has evolved into more of a social club which promotes Jura interests.

While there is very little activity now (PROT00, PROT02-03 = 0, REBEL00-03 = 0) this was not always the case. Both before and after the establishment of the canton there were instances of both protest (PROT60X through PROT 75X = 3 being the most severe) and a few bombings (REBEL85X = 2 the most severe). Most recently, small protests broke out in 2001 (PROT01 = 3) after Canton Bern rejected a proposal to cede some areas to Canton Jura. Communal conflict between the French and German communities reached its peak in the 1970s (COMCON7X =5) but this also appears to have ceased in the 1990s (COMCON00-03 = 0).

References

Minorities at Risk: Phase I Report

Lexis/Nexis: All news files 1990-2003

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