Why Sweden Stopped Pretending to Be Switzerland
My Two Home Countries Were Famously Neutral. But They Were Never the Same
Can we, and should we, ever really be neutral? In a new series, Zócalo explores the idea of neutrality—in politics, sports, gender, journalism, and more. For the inaugural essay, Swedish-Swiss journalist Bruno Kaufmann examines how his two famously “neutral” home countries diverge.
For most of my life, people have offered joyful shouts when I have presented either of my passports, or answered the question of where I come from. They have positive associations with my two home countries, Switzerland and Sweden, even if they confused …
