"Geopolitical developments are not meteorological phenomena"

It was one of those rare evenings when politics, media and culture not only stand side by side, but resonate with each other. Ringier CEO Marc Walder opened the reading, and the intimate guest list ranged from well-known voices from politics, business and sport to media personalities.

Walther Thurnherr - eight years Federal Chancellor, before that diplomat, Secretary General in several departments, and author - read from his new bookpublished by Kein & Aber Verlag. He chose the introduction to the chapter on foreign policy due to current events. A text that is at once historically grounded, analytically clear and literarily polished. The reading was followed by an in-depth discussion with Reza Rafi, editor-in-chief of the SonntagsBlick.

"All in all, it seemed as if official Switzerland had taken a break"

Right at the beginning of his reading, Thurnherr took his audience back to the year 1998 - a Switzerland in celebration mode, self-confident, proud, oriented towards historic anniversaries. He read about the self-assurance of the time and the subsequent shocks: from the settlement between Swiss banks and the World Jewish Restitution Organization to the grounded Swissair planes, from 9/11 to the mass killing of 1.5 million chickens in Hong Kong. It was the basis for one of the author's central theses: turning points are not the exception, but the norm.

Thurnherr formulates it in the book as precisely as is otherwise only known from analyses of state policy:

"However, geopolitical developments are not meteorological phenomena. They have human causes and announce themselves."

An author with an eye for mechanisms - and for language

What became immediately apparent that evening: Thurnherr is a political author with literary precision. His language is clear, occasionally ironic and always subtly structured. The former chancellor knows not only the "what" but also the "how" of political decision-making.

Humor and sharpness are part of his style - for example, when he talks about equestrian metaphors relating to neutrality politics:

"It's even more complicated in foreign policy. Many people are riding with their heads on backwards, but on purpose."

Inside views from the engine room of Swiss politics

The subsequent talk with Reza Rafi took the audience even deeper into Thurnherr's wealth of experience.

He described the famous co-reporting procedure as an "ingenious process" based on collective intelligence:

"Seven people make better decisions than one."

He explained how the Federal Council works in crises - and where its weaknesses lie: in thinking ahead. His credo:

"There is room for improvement when looking ahead."

And he explained how much the media reality has changed - from Chernobyl to Fukushima:

"Expectations of the Federal Council's public relations work have changed fundamentally."

For the media and communications industry in particular, this is both tricky and exciting: media appearances, language regulations and media releases are no longer mere instruments for external communication, but an integral part of government activity. They are prepared, coordinated - and, as Thurnherr describes, explicitly considered in the Federal Council meeting. Whereas after Chernobyl the Federal Council was still debating whether it should say anything at all, in the age of Fukushima and live ticker press conferences, communication measures are effectively running in crisis mode.

A subway moment in Trump Tower - and a sentence that explains Switzerland

It is also remarkable what a spontaneous short interview can reveal. m&k posed a thought experiment:

How would he explain to Donald Trump - on a random elevator ride in Trump Tower - how Switzerland is governed?

His answer came without hesitation, dry, precise and almost literary:

"Switzerland consults 100 times on every decision, involves everyone and filters out the biggest mistakes. That is a very good mechanism."

A sentence like a distillate - and an ideal counterpart to the political physicality of the current US president. The brief exchange led directly to the question of the book's title - and its decisive "nevertheless":

Why "nevertheless"?

Thurnherr explained that although Switzerland formally has a government with comparatively little legal power - parliament dominates and federalism means that powers are spread out - the Federal Council has enormous political power. The government is always involved in all decisions and it is precisely this collective thinking that makes the system so stable.

When asked for an elevator pitch for his book, Thurnherr said:

"This is the best book about the Swiss government."

A sentence that came with a smile - and at the same time with a truth: hardly anyone knows the engine room of power as well as he does. This also made it clear how Thurnherr sees his work: as a precise and at the same time human approach to a political system that functions through consultation, pragmatism and resistance to error - especially in times when global politics operates at the speed of tweets, reels, shorts, breaks and whims.

When things get dicey, the characters reveal themselves

One of the strongest moments of the talk was Thurnherr's description of the dynamics in the Federal Council:

"The moment things get dicey, the characters simply reveal themselves."

He spoke about isolated department heads, formative figures, resignations due to loneliness, but also about humor in the committee:

"Of course I laughed a lot with Doris Leuthard. Life is too short to always be serious."

Skepticism, clarity and a quiet consolation

Thurnherr's book - and this evening - are reassuring without ever being trivializing. It shows that crises are part of the system and that politics can work despite all the complexity when it comes down to it:

"The teamwork during the crisis is actually working surprisingly well."

And at the same time, he reminds us how important humility remains in judgment:

"One should be very careful with judgment."

Conclusion: A book that makes the mechanics of power visible

Walther Thurnherr has written a work that goes far beyond a political memoir. It is an analysis, a history, a classification - and an insight into thought processes that are otherwise only experienced behind closed doors. The Ringier reading showed how accessibly, precisely and sometimes humorously he can unfold complex state-political mechanisms. A literary look into the engine room of Switzerland - with the knowledge and doubt of a man who is one of the best observers of this system.