Obrambeni sustav Švicarske
The Defence System of Switzerland

Summary/Abstract: In discussion led in expert circles today one can often hear the opinion that ≫Switzerland has no army because Switzerland is an army itself≪. This opinion is usually accompanied by praise for the Swiss militia system and its system of civil defence; also the fact is specially stressed that shelters have been built for most of the population. Switzerland has developed a system of all-comprising total defence usually called ≫general defence≪ (defence generale) by its military experts. It has had its present outlines since the seventies. In 1973. and then again in 1979 the Swiss government submitted two reports to its confederal assembly (parliament). In these reports, or ≫white books≪, all possible threats to national security are considered and a general policy of national security in parts of foreign and internal affairs is set down, as are institutionalized forms for the implementation of that policy. Swiss security policy established as a project of total (all-comprising) defence, is based on a common activity of all confederal organs and institutions for the maintenance of peace, the protection of the people from any attack from the outside, and against violence within the country. Switzerland’s defence system has three basic constituent parts. They are military defence (armed forces) as an instrument of power intended to deter the agressor and to fight armed battles in the war; civil defence (civil protection) intended to protect people and material goods in the war and in all other forms of danger; and economic defence (territorial organization) which has to secure the production of equipment and material goods indispensable for conducting war and connecting military and civil defence.

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