Switzerland is highly mountainous and 2 out of its 3 big neighbors historically could not agree with anything the others proposed, which most likely meant that at least 1 of them would support the Swiss against the other 2 (at most) invaders.
Scaling Swiss neutrality worldwide is unrealistic.
Most countries don't have these kinds of luxuries.
That's actually an important point though. The kind of isolationist neutrality that Switzerland has is only possible if you can make it seem like conquering you is impossible to justify. Switzerland will protect its neutrality by force if necessary. They also have a military industrial complex, so is that one a racket?
Switzerland's neutrality is a fact of geopolitics. The geography of Switzerland means a big part of the country is essentially a natural fortress with bunkers cut directly into the mountain and firing down. There is a reason the Nazis never invaded and that wasn't neutrality (neutrality didn't do Belgium any good in WW2). Unlike other countries, Switzerland can afford neutrality and it is ultimately the most profitable option.
These days, I don't think Switzerland really fears an invasion, but it's true that the financial incentives have taken over. At the level of the population, the neutrality culture runs deep, and as Switzerland is one of the richest countries in the world, there's really no reason for the average Swiss to be upset about it.
They’re a neutral nation surrounded by countries which are at the moment friendly. Neutrality incentivizes them to stay armed and to do their patrols but Switzerland has no reason to expect a war from France, Germany or Italy anytime soon.
Switzerland isn't a magical neutral land on Earth. It's a neutral place from the point of view of Europe because its terrain is difficult to practice for troops.
On a virtual level (software, intellectual, legal), Switzerland is not more neutral than any other small country on Earth. It could have been Iceland.
Automatically centralizing to Switzerland everything considered 'neutral' (neutrality is a debatable concept btw) is risky, stereotyping and doesn't look legit.
Switzerland has some advantages... being smack in the middle of the alps means nice trade routes, small population, hard to invade. They can afford "neutrality", they can afford taking advantage of their neighbors (by not joining EU but having some similar deals) because they are so small their neighbors can ignore that. Poland tried to stay neutral in WWII, by the way.
What Switzerland does is not scaleable. Small countries tend to deviate from the average. Some win, some lose.
Switzerland's doctrine of neutrality is not newfound, rather it's a strategy they've built into their geography over centuries. They're nestled between mountains, so it would be pretty difficult for any other nation to attack them, but up until 1945, Europe was home to very frequent wars of conquest, which were devastating to property and people. Switzerland's strategy was to lean into their natural defenses by building hundreds of thousands of bunkers [0] in the mountains and signalling "Hey, we aren't looking to attack you, but if you invade, watch out for our extremely well fortified defenses. By the way, would you care to keep your valuables in our vaults? Lots of pillagers out there in the rest of Europe."
(but seriously, skim through the video. Switzerland's defenses are wild and beautiful.)
Well the other thing the Swiss have cultivated is their neutrality. From the neutrality and the natural fortress flows their long history banking. Historically the Powers would not think of invading Switzerland, because ... where else in Europe can you safely house your fortune? If you even hinted at it, you wouldn't be welcome.
Similarly, in wartime, everyone needs strictly neutral parties to get a lot of the humdrum business of war done.
Through Swiss front companies the Nazis could obtain critical war supplies (vanadium, I think it was); similarly the allies could obtain critical intelligence through the availability of Switzerland as a staging post into Austria and Germany.
If the world supports Ukraine, but Switzerland refuses to support them, no matter who the opponent is, then that is neutrality.
Knowing the Swiss system very well, it would surprise me if there have been nefarious intents and ideas behind this.
Do not underestimate their cleverness.
Small country, suddenly rich with no worthwhile exports, all the big corps incorporated there because they feel the rule of law is given and functional and the money safe and the institutions work.
Small country, if you go from the centre of zurich, you will see one corporation after the other for a 30 mile radius, shoulder to shoulder.
Its a remarkable amount of the liveable territory.
Really, do not underestimate their greed and cleverness.
> Neutrality is to appease all the rich that have stashed their fortunes.
How did you get to this conclusion?
* Switzerland has neutrality since the Vienna Congress 1814/1815, more than 200 years
* they weren't really rich back then
* instead, big powers of Europe feared that Switzerland will join one of their opponents, so it was dictated to Switzerland originally
* later, when Switzerland saw how the countries surrounding them got demolished again and again in each war, they actually adopted it. It is now in their constitution, article 185.
* the consitution can only be changed by the electorate of Switzerland (about 6 mio people), not the government or the parliament
So why would these 6 million people add / keep neutrality "to appease the rich" ? Not all swiss people are rich. In the southern french parts the risk to sink into poverty is even higher than in some parts of Germany!
Maybe a not-so-swiss centric view can shed more light on your (wrong) hypothesis:
In Europe Switzerland isn't the only (current) neutral country. We have Austria, Ireland and some smaller ones, like Liechtenstein. We used to have also Portugal, Sweden or Belgium in the neutral camp. Are they all known to "appease the rich" ? I doubt. Except if your idea of not appeasing rich people is having a government form like Soviet Russia, GDR, or Yugoslavia.
Scaling Swiss neutrality worldwide is unrealistic.
Most countries don't have these kinds of luxuries.
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