Swiss Democracy

Front matter

Swiss Democracy

Possible Solutions to Conflict in Multicultural Societies

Fourth Edition

Preface To The Fourth Edition

This book has a history of over 25 years. When Swiss Democracy was first published in 1994, articles on Switzerland in political science journals were rare, and Swiss Democracy was one of very few monographs on the Swiss political system written in English. Meanwhile, things have changed. This edition can draw on extensive political science research on this ‘deviant case of democracy’, and several new or revised monographs on the history and politics of Switzerland are on the market.!

In certain respects, Swiss Democracy has remained unique. Up to date with the state of scholarly research, it offers the basics of the political system and is intended not only for an academic readership. The book strives to combine an accessible writing style with theoretical considerations and concrete political narratives. Past editions have found many readers outside of university classrooms. Particularly the Swiss Department of Foreign Affairs makes use of the message of Swiss Democracy in its diplomatic missions and public initiatives, notably with the 1500 copies ordered of the Arab version. The book has also been translated into Polish, Nepali, and,

!For example, Clive H. Church, The Politics and Government of Switzerland (Palgrave Macmillan, 2004) and Political Change in Switzerland (Routledge, 2016), Jonathan Steinberg, Why Switzerland? (Cambridge University Press, 3rd edition from 2015), Pascal Sciarini, Manuel Fischer and Denise Traber, Political Decision-Making in Switzerland (Palgrave, 2015), Hanspeter Kriesi and Alexander Trechsel, The Politics of Switzerland (Cambridge University Press, 2012), Jan-Erik Lane (ed.), The Swiss Labyrinth (Palgrave, 2001), Michael Butler et al., The Making of Modern Switzerland (Palgrave, 2000), and, as a collection of political science articles, Ulrich Klöti et al., Handbook of Swiss Politics (NZZ Publishing, 2007).

vii viii PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION forthcoming, Azerbaijani. Partial translations of the text exist in Russian, Romanian and Serbo-Croatian.

As a kind of a reference work for a critical account of Switzerland’s democracy, the text needed continuous updating for two reasons. One, Swiss political science research has flourished over the last two decades. Many of its findings are relevant for this book and give readers further insight and hints, corresponding to the latest state of the art. Two, beneath Switzerland’s apparent political stability one finds steady political change. This relates to the Swiss Constitution which—because of its openness to popular initiatives—is subject to amendments almost every year. Change also concerns politics, where the party system has undergone fundamental transformations since the early 1990s. Finally, Swiss policies, under the disruptive effects of globalisation and Europeanisation, have been under pressure from abroad. In the words of British scholar Clive Church, this has led ‘from stability to uncertainty’.

While the second (1999) and third (2010) editions of Swiss Democracy were characterised by ‘soft’ renovations, this fourth edition underwent more extensive revisions. As a result, the former Introduction now appears as a separate chapter (Chap. 1) from the historic review of building a multicultural society (Chap. 2). Besides providing comprehensively updated statistical data, this chapter particularly describes two recent developments: the question of immigration and asylum policy, as well as the transformation of the party system and its implications for the Swiss government. In the chapter on federalism (Chap. 3), readers will learn about the latest developments in the Jura conflict, the exit from nuclear power and its consequences for Swiss energy policy, the changing role of the Council of States and how the institutions of federalism are under stress from the outside.

The practice of direct democracy (Chap. 4) has also led to political turbulences. They first emerged when the people and cantons approved constitutional amendments conflicting with international treaties. And while digitalisation appears as a new chance, it also bears considerable risks for direct democracy. The rise of populism and growing polarisation have further jeopardised the politics of ‘consensus democracy’ (Chap. 5). As in the past, the international comparisons (Chap. 6) are focused on one essential question: how do the institutional features of federalism, power-sharing and direct democracy function in other countries? And can they help to solve multicultural conflict? A new chapter (Chap. 7) analyses the

PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION ix policy of ‘bilateral’ relations between Switzerland and the EU, as well as their uncertain future. That chapter and thus the book conclude with the question on whether and how others could take the Swiss experience as a basis for their own institutional development—what I call the ‘dialogue model’.

Online databases play an ever-important role also in teaching and research. For students interested in Swiss politics, I mention just two of them: https: //anneepolitique.swiss, a yearly chronicle about all important events in Swiss politics, and https://swissvotes.ch, a list of all federal popular votes since 1848, with comprehensive statistical data and the narrative of every single votation.

The most pleasing change of the book, however, is that I could gain Sean Mueller as co-author. Holding since February 2020 a Swiss National Science Foundation professorship at the University of Lausanne, Sean is one of the most promising political science scholars of his generation in Switzerland. He inspired me and Anne-Kathrin Birchley-Brun from Palgrave Macmillan to undertake this fourth edition. Based on the experience of a similar and rewarding cooperation for a new edition of the German textbook Schweizerische Demokratie,” Sean and I took great pleasure in reviewing, discussing and rewriting what is now the latest edition of Swiss Democracy. It was realised in the spirit of maintaining the qualities of all past editions: a simple structure, a focus on the essentials, up to date on scientific research and real developments, and written in a style accessible also to non-specialists.

My thanks go to the many persons who helped me in the making of Swiss Democracy in the past 25 years. It was the late George W. Jones of the Government Department of the London School of Economics who in 1990 encouraged me to write a monograph on Swiss governance and recommended me to a British publisher. I still remember the hospitality of Jiirg Steiner (University of North Carolina) and his wife Ruth at Chapel Hill, where I wrote drafts of the first edition during my sabbatical in 1992. Clive Church from the University of Kent at Canterbury was an important mentor. As a specialist in contemporary Swiss history, Clive made particularly well-informed suggestions on how to explain Swiss political institutions to an English-speaking public. In many respects, the questions

?Wolf Linder and Sean Mueller, Schweizerische Demokratie — Institutionen, Prozesse, Perspektiven (Haupt, 2017).

X PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION discussed in this book go beyond the perspective of political science. I am particularly grateful, therefore, to a number of colleagues from other disciplines: Jean-Francois Aubert from the University of Neuchatel, the late Peter Saladin and Walter Kälin from the University of Bern, all of them specialists in constitutional or international law, as well as peace researcher Johan Galtung, at the time when he was a guest professor at our Institute. They were all critical readers of the manuscript for the first edition and provided invaluable advice as well as incitation.

Finally, my acknowledgements go to the many collaborators of the Institute of Political Science at the University of Bern who, before my retirement, assisted in the preparation of earlier editions. I mention Hans Hirter, Lorenz Kummer, Martin Senti, Adrian Vatter, Daniel Hug, Martina Delgrande, Thomas Holzer, Reto Wiesli, Andrea Iff, Michael Sutter, Franziska Ehrler, visiting scholar Peter Stettler and my long-time secretary Monika Spinatsch. As to this fourth edition, special thanks are due to the anonymous reviewer and to Palgrave’s Anne-Kathrin Birchley- Brun for her publishing services. Last but not least, we thank the Swiss National Science Foundation for enabling the Open Access publication of this fourth edition.

Bern, Switzerland Wolf Linder May 2020

CONTENTS l Introduction References

2.1 22 2.3

2.6

Introduction

The Origins of Modern Switzerland

Turning Poor Odds into Good Ones: Factors that Made

Swiss Nation-Building a Success

2.3.1 Economy

2.3.2 Pressure from the Outside

2.3.3 Democracy and Social Values

2.3.4 Combining Democracy with Federalism

Religious and Ethnic Minorities: From Coexistence to

Pluralism

2.4.1 Political Catholicism: From Segmentation to Integration

2.4.2 Multilingualism: Understandings and Misunderstandings

2.4.3 Jura: The Exception to Integration

The Challenges of Socio-economic Inequality

2.5.1 A Working Class Without a Homeland

2.5.2 From Class Struggle to Economic Partnership

Proportional Representation: The Universal Key to Power-

Sharing

- xii CONTENTS

2.7 The Limits of Swiss Pluralism: New Challenges for Integration

2.8 Conclusion

Federalism 3.1 Institutions 3.1.1 The Swiss Interpretation of Federalism 3.1.2 The Division of Powers Between the Federation and the Cantons 3.1.3 Non-centralisation—Not Decentralisation 3.1.4 Relations Between the Federation and the Cantons 3.2 Federal Elements in the Decision-Making Process 3.2.1 Bicameralism 3.2.2 The People’s and the Cantons’ Vote 3.2.3 Local Governments: The Corner Stone of the Swiss Bottom-Up’ State 3.2.4 Citizens? Self-administration 3.3 Federalism at Work 3.3.1 Cooperative Federalism: How Federal Tasks Are Implemented by Cantons and Communes 3.3.2 Energy Policy: From Federal Deadlock to Cantonal Experiments 3.3.3 Coping with Inequality: The Example of Swiss Primary Schools 3.3.4 Swiss Federalism: Solidarity Is more Important than Competition 3.3.5 Dealing with Separatism: The Arduous Birth of a New Canton 3.4 The Limits of Swiss Federalism 3.4.1 Limits of Implementation: Why Some Foreigners Can Buy Real Estate in Switzerland But Others Cannot 3.4.2 The Weakness of Federal Authorities: How a Canton Can Deny Human Rights to Its Citizens

Contents

Challenges

3.5.1 Federalism Versus Democracy: Why One Citizen from Uri Outweighs 35 Citizens from Zurich

3.5.2 Urban Regions—The Forgotten Dimension of Swiss Federalism

Index

274 274 276 277

ABBREVIATIONS

BDP Bourgeois-Democratic Party (Bürgerlich-Demokratische Partei) BES Federal Statistical Office (Bundesamt fiir Statistik)

CHE Swiss Franc

CP Counter-proposal (to a popular initiative)

CR Constitutional (or obligatory) referendum

CVP Christian-Democratic Party (Christlichdemokratische Volkspartei) EEA European Economic Area

EEC European Economic Community EFTA European Free Trade Association EU European Union

FDP Radical-Liberal Party (Freisinnig Demokratische Partei) GDP Gross domestic product

GLP Green-Liberal Party (Grünliberale Partei)

GPS Green Party Switzerland (Grüne Partei Schweiz)

LR Legislative (or facultative) referendum

NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization

OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development OSCE Organisation for Security and Co-Operation in Europe

PI Popular initiative SPS Social-Democratic Party Switzerland (Sozialdemokratische Partei der Schweiz)

SVP Swiss People’s Party (Schweizerische Volkspartei)

UK United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland UN United Nations

USA United States of America

USSR Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

VAT Value Added Tax

WTO World Trade Organization

WWII = World War Two xvii

Fig.

Fig.

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11 2.1

6.1 6.2

Fol

LIST OF FIGURES

The 26 cantons of Switzerland

Service economy and immigration, 1960-2018: two indicators of socio-economic change [%]

Bern canton up to 1978 showing the former boundaries of the canton including that part of the Jura region which in 1978 became an independent canton

Asylum seekers in Switzerland, 2007-2019

Net compensation transfers in 2020

Deciding majorities as a percentage of the total Swiss population in federal votations, 1866-2019

Voter turnout in Swiss ballots, 1980-2019

The legislative process: actors and the policy cycle

Seats in the National Council of the five main political parties, 1919-2019

Most frequent winning coalitions in the National Council, 1996-2019 [%]

Citizens’ influence in majoritarian parliamentary and semi-direct consensus democracies: a theoretical model

Structure and process in selected polities

Majoritarian and consensus democracy: a two-dimensional conceptual map

Share of the pro-EU vote in 14 referenda, 1972-2020 [%]

139 141 174 189 121

198 230

248 267

Xix

Table 2.1

Table 3.1 Table 3.2

Table 3.3

Table 3.4 Table 3.5

Table 4.1 Table 4.2

Table 4.3 Table 4.4 Table 4.5 Table 5.1 Table 5.2 Table 5.3 Table 6.1 Table 6.2

LIST OF TABLES

The Swiss federal system and the executive, legislative and judicial powers at each level

Proportional representation of linguistic groups

Use of the proportional rule: institutions and criteria Foreign permanent resident population by citizenship, end of 2017

Central government tax and expenditure share, 2017 Composition of National Council and Council of States, 1999 and 2019

Constitutional revisions and amendments proposed by the Federal Assembly, 1848-2019, including direct counterproposals to popular initiatives

Popular votes with different majorities of people and cantons, 1848-2020

Federalist against democratic rule: practical veto power of small cantons in nine referenda Types of referendum and popular initiative (federal level) Constitutional selection of direct-democracy issues at federal level

Federal votations held 2017-2019

National referenda and popular initiatives, 1848-2019° Typical profile of a popular vote

Results of the government elections of 11 December 2019 Different types of democracy: some examples

A system comparison between Great Britain and Switzerland Number of nationwide referenda, 1950-2019

Lijphart’s types of majoritarian and consensus democracy

Box 2.1 Box 2.2

Box 2.3 Box 2.4 Box 2.5 Box 2.6 Box 2.7 Box 2.8 Box 3.1

Box 3.2 Box 3.3 Box 3.4 Box 3.5 Box 3.6 Box 4.1

Box 4.2

Box 5.1 Box 5.2

Box 5.3

Box 5.4

LIST OF BOXES

Characteristics of Switzerland

Religious Conflicts Between Protestant and Catholic Cantons, Sixteenth-Eighteenth Centuries

Main Authorities of the Federation

Political Parties

Neutrality: A Necessary Aid in Building up the Swiss Nation Developing a Collective Identity

Proportionality in Practice

The Main Powers of the Federation, the Cantons and the Communes

The Powers of the Swiss Parliament

Communes: The Cornerstone of the Swiss ‘Bottom-Up’ State Local Government Institutions

Mechanisms of Financial Compensation

The Fiscal State: Paying Taxes in Switzerland

Difficulties of Building Up ‘Constructive Majorities’: The Example of Taxation in Theory and Practice

Tougher Restrictions on Refugees: Cleavages, Motives, Interests and Voting Behaviour

Direct Democracy in Situations of Urgency and War

Social Partnership and Public-Private Partnerships—The Second Arenas of Power-Sharing

“No single winner takes all, everybody wins something’: Conditions of Good or Poor Compromise

Swiss Political Culture, as Defined by a British Scholar

CHAPTER 1 Introduction

Switzerland is a bottom-up creation. Unlike other countries that were founded more in a top-down manner, through territorial conquest or dynastic intermarriage, the basic values and mechanisms of Swiss democracy are cooperation, small-scale government and participatory democracy. That is also why for many observers, Swiss politics has something archaic, outdated, medieval. Indeed, two of the most important institutions, federalism and direct democracy, can draw on an almost uninterrupted legacy spanning centuries. The legendary foedus or pact sworn on the Rütli meadow in Central Switzerland epitomises pre-modern liberation struggles from imperial rule, while some of the equally medieval citizen assemblies have functioned to this day.

Yet albeit somewhat old-fashioned and simple in design, Switzerland is also profoundly postmodern and complex. It has largely achieved the peaceful living-together of different cultures as postulated by Kymlicka (1995). Its civic nationalism resembles ideas of Jiirgen Habermas’ (1992) Verfassungspatriotismus. The Swiss polity emphasises democracy as a process of deliberation among co-equal citizens (Barber 1984), and its consensus democracy in many ways approximates the theoretical ideal-type (Lijphart 2012). Complexity, in turn, arrives in the form of dynamic interactions between different institutional elements. Federalism, direct democracy and power-sharing reinforce each other in multiple ways. For instance, citizens can directly vote on policies and elect their representative at the local, regional and national levels. But there are also tensions, such

© The Author(s) 2021 1 W. Linder, S. Mueller, Swiss Democracy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-63266-3_1 as when the territorial and popular majorities collide or when certain regions, parties and groups feel excluded from and neglected by the government for too long.

In some ways, this book thus describes a ‘deviant case’ of democracy: one where citizens participate not only in the election of their parliament and government, but also vote on and ratify parliamentary decisions of major importance. Since this type of direct democracy has remained unique, it runs the risk of a double misunderstanding: rejected by some and glorified by others. The main goal of this book, therefore, is to critically discuss Swiss democracy and avoid both fallacies. Our hope is also that some aspects of Swiss democracy can stimulate creative thinking elsewhere.

However, it is important to keep in mind that probably nobody in her right mind would today invent something like Switzerland. To divide a small country with only 8.5 million inhabitants into 26 cantons and over 2000 municipalities? Even Germany, with over 80 million inhabitants, only has 16 Länder. Moreover, not only does this mean that, on average, a mere 330,000 people inhabit a canton. But every canton also has its own constitution, government, parliament, courts, flag and anthem. In reality, cantons differ widely in size, from Appenzell Inner-Rhodes with just 16,000 to Zurich with over 1.5 million inhabitants. The number of municipalities varies enormously, too, from Glarus and Basel with three each to Bern with 346 (Fig. 1.1). On top of all that, the country also recognises four different national languages—and not just amy, but those of its big neighbouring countries, Italy, France and Germany. If at least linguistic and cantonal diversity overlapped, it would all make sense. But no, not really: 17 cantons are officially German- and four French-speaking, three are bilingual (two with French, one with German as the majority language), one is Italian-speaking and one trilingual (German, Italian and Romansh). Logic was definitely not part of decision-making when this was all called to life.

Or, rather: logic was very well present, just not in the form of a single, grand design imposed by somebody from above or the outside. The great fortune of the Swiss has been that with only one or two exceptions, they were always masters of their own destiny. At the same time, it was understood early on that with freedom also comes responsibility, with rights also duties. So rather than Cartesian, it was through trial and error, mutual learning and an almost instinctive scepticism towards anything new that today’s institutions slowly took shape. Like a child that needs to fall over

1 INTRODUCTION

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The purpose of this book is not to heap but praise on the Swiss way of doing politics and try to ‘sell’ its democracy. No system is perfect, even if some do seem a little less imperfect. For despite the many advantages and mechanisms that make Switzerland appear as a success story, there remains room for improvement. For the progressive left, campaign and party funding should be made more transparent. For the conservative right, integration into European-wide affairs, notably by subscribing to the free movement of persons, has gone too far and needs to be rolled back. Yet for all their cultural and political differences, Swiss citizens want the exact same things as those of other countries: good jobs, healthy lives, sustainable economies and a solidary society. Switzerland, in that sense, is nothing special. All that is different is the political structure in which these same goals are pursued. If ever there was one general lesson to be drawn from the Swiss case, it is probably that finding the right institutional structure takes time and will never be finished once and for all.

Chapter 2 explains how, indeed, it was not abstract logic but pure necessity and pragmatics that dictated the terms of Swiss state-building. What is more, nation-building occurred in parallel to state-building—neither was fully present when modern Switzerland was founded in 1848, after a brief civil war. This circumstance, coupled with the observed cultural diversity, gives Swiss nationhood its distinct political, that is, ‘civic’ flavour. This is very different from mono-cultural, ‘ethnic’ nations. Swiss history can thus be read as gradually achieving the participation of the most important minority groups and the different social classes through proportional representation. Proportionality is the first and most important element of power-sharing, the common notion comparative political scientists use to describe the characteristics of democracies that renounce majority and ‘winner takes all’ rules (e.g. Lijphart 2012).

In Chap. 3, we focus on Swiss federalism. Federalism allows the division of power between one central and many regional governments and is therefore a widely used institutional arrangement in multicultural societies. But rather than just focusing on autonomy and differences, Swiss federalism also allows for participation and coming-together for the purpose of joint problem-solving. As Denis de Rougemont (2012 [1947], 88) explained using the very Swiss case:

As it happens, the words federalism and federation are understood in two very different ways in [the German- and French-speaking parts of]

1 INTRODUCTION 5

Switzerland. In German, Confederation means Bund, which means union, evoking especially the idea of centralisation. In Swiss Romande, on the contrary, those who profess federalism are actually the jealous defenders of cantonal autonomy against centralisation. For some, therefore, to federate simply means to unite. For others, to be federalist simply means to protect freedom at home. Both are wrong, because each is only half right. True federalism consists neither only in the union of the cantons, nor only in their complete autonomy. It consists in the continuously adjusted balance between the autonomy of the regions and their union. It consists in the perpetual combination of these two opposing yet mutually reinforcing forces.

If federalism thus understood and practised has helped bridge the gap between different cultural communities, direct democracy contributed to avoiding one developing between the political elite and ordinary citizens. Chapter 4 discusses the emergence and operation of Swiss direct democracy and assesses its effects on power-sharing. Contrary to what many theorists have claimed, it is not too demanding for people in a highly developed industrial society. Just as with other elements of Swiss democracy, abundance is not an obstacle but key to success: the fact that citizens get to have a direct say up to four times a year at federal level, in addition to frequent referendums at cantonal and local levels, makes voting almost a routine exercise. It also allows today’s losers to become tomorrow’s winners—and vice versa, thus fostering mutual respect and cooperation. But contrary also to what some revolutionaries had hoped for, it has not led to radical change either. Instead, direct democracy has above all led to political conservatism, be that regarding welfare policies, defence or European integration. Most importantly, the Swiss Constitution and with it the entire development of the modern state is the direct result of dozens of popular votes.

Chapter 5 takes yet another step into the Swiss ‘labyrinth’ (Lane 2001) by unpacking the notion of power-sharing. Many other countries use a variety of institutional forms of plebiscite, referenda and popular initiatives to influence or complement parliamentary and governmental policies. Switzerland, however, is the only country where direct democracy has become an important—perhaps also the most constraining—element of power-sharing. In fact, the referendum has enabled different minorities to successfully challenge parliamentary proposals that did not take into account their group interests. Consequently, law-making in Switzerland has become impossible without the participation of various interest groups at early stages of drafting already. The referendum has profoundly changed the Swiss governmental system, which initially intended to follow the winner-takes-all pattern of Anglo-American democracy. Instead, it has developed into broad-based political pluralism. In its structures of consociational democracy, all important political parties and interest groups are permanently represented in the political institutions, and legislating has become a process of negotiation and mutual adjustment involving different political forces.

In Chap. 6, we develop three comparative perspectives that look beyond the Swiss case. Beginning with direct democracy, we discuss how it is not a definitive concept, but one which changes with the passage of time. Thus, enhancing the direct participation of people as in Switzerland—considered revolutionary in the nineteenth century—may still be regarded a progressive form of democracy. But can the principle of the maximum participation of the greatest possible number of people be applied to the whole spectrum of political issues and decision-making? And are increased political rights, offering the people not only a voice in electing their representatives but also a chance to decide major decisions directly, really an efficient way to improve democracy?

The second perspective deals with federalism. Traditionally, it has been understood as a means for the vertical division of power within states. But can it also play a role for the supranational division of power and the participation of minorities? Despite the fact that federalism is a venerable and well-known institutional recipe, it seems that still not all of its possibilities are fully exploited today. The last section of Chap. 6 places political power-sharing in a context of conflict resolution, especially concerning multicultural societies. We end by stressing that power-sharing is not just an institutional arrangement, but that it also has to be based on the specific culture of a society that intends to practice it.

The book concludes, in Chap. 7, with a look at Switzerland in Europe and the world. Why are the Swiss, while profiting from globalisation, not a member of the EU? And how come that Switzerland, by means of a series of bilateral treaties with Brussels, adopts a good part of the economic regulations enacted by that same EU? We analyse the reasons and political consequences of this selective participation without membership and try to answer the question whether or not ‘bilateralism’ is a sustainable strategy for the Swiss preference: utmost economic integration and least political loss of national autonomy.

1 INTRODUCTION 7

What about Switzerland in the world? Contrary to the hopes of Francis Fukuyama’s (1992) “end of history’ thesis, we do not live in an age of worldwide democracy. Instead, democracy is barely consolidated in many countries and even at risk of disappearing (Levitsky and Ziblatt 2018). No wonder that we observe a growing interest in the institutions of Swiss democracy from abroad, be it in questions of decentralisation, direct democracy or political power-sharing. Can Swiss democracy be exported? We do not regard such ‘export’ ideas as appropriate. Instead, we propose an alternative: the ‘dialogue model’ which, as a discourse between equals, seems to be a more promising way. In this approach, others can draw from the ‘Swiss experience’ as a base for autochthonal developments of their institutions. And the Swiss can be inspired in turn.

Let us conclude this introductory note with an emphasis on one of the main Swiss paradoxes: its democracy both maximises stability and institutionalises openness. How is that possible? Stability happens by letting all important groups participate in collective decisions, either through political parties and governmental or parliamentary representation; interest groups voicing their concerns in the pre-parliamentary phase; social movements building up pressure from the street or cantonal and local governments running their own show. At the same time, the system is incredibly open: a good idea, a determined organisation, some resources and maybe fortunate circumstances allow almost anyone to change the Constitution or bring the entire political and economic elite to its knees.

The country is small, elite members know each other and important issues and projects are regularly discussed in the media, at work, in associations and of course online. But despite all that, surprises still happen and political change occurs. Suffice it to look at the October 2019 federal elections, which produced massive gains for the Greens and Green-Liberals at the expense of all four government parties. Of course, one should not read too much into just one election. But 2019 was also the year that saw the biggest ever ‘Women’s Strike’ (Frauenstreik) take place, on 14 June, with hundreds of thousands of women (and some men) demanding full equality. And as if to top that—as some say—biggest political demonstration in 100 years, three weeks before the parliamentary elections a further 100,000 people took to the streets in Bern to call for a sustainable climate policy.

Welcome to Switzerland, a country that spent decades creating a system possibly devoid of one grand design but replete with specific answers to specific problems of all sorts of groups. A place where you can not only vote for people and parties but also decide all important policies directly, at three meaningful levels of government—and still feel ignored, neglected and as losing out from globalisation. At the heart of Europe, the masters of federalism, home to a civic community of willing members—yet not in the EU, the other grand project of uniting different communities to the benefit of all.

Barber, Benjamin R. 1984. Strong Democracy. Participatory Politics for a New Age. Berkeley, LA: University of California Press.

Fukuyama, Francis. 1992. The End of History and the Last Man. New York: The Free Press.

Habermas, Jürgen. 1992. Faktizität und Geltung. Frankfurt a.M: Suhrkamp.

Kymlicka, Will. 1995. Multicultural Citizenship. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Lane, Jan-Erik, ed. 2001. The Swiss Labyrinth: Institutions, Outcomes and Redesign. London/Portland, OR: Frank Cass.

Levitsky, Steven, and Daniel Ziblatt. 2018. How Democracies Die: What History Reveals About Our Future. New York: Crown.

Lijphart, Arend. 2012. Patterns of democracy: Government forms and performance in thirty-six countries. 2nd ed. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Statistischer Atlas der Schweiz. 2019. https://www.atlas.bfs.admin.ch. Accessed 1 November 2019.

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