Report_Comparative Government and Politics

Switzerland

“To be neutral you must be ready to be highly militarized, like Switzerland or Sweden.”

-Edwin Reischauer

As the quote above represents, Switzerland has established neutrality among the world politics, and has stable source of military. Switzerland is known for its various types of rules throughout its history. It experienced wars throughout the Roman rules and numerous conflicts and unification during the early middle ages. The domestic conflict reached its peak during the Reformation period when the conservative power holders of the catholic leaders met disagreements with the new Protestantism. After going through the French rule and the great movement lead by the Radicals, Switzerland has now become a federal state with having its own distinct states called cantons. Switzerland is now renowned for its clean environment and its effective policies. However the current Switzerland has faced some serious issues regarding their policies. Switzerland has been deeply affected due to the 2008 Economic crisis that attacked the whole world. It has been criticized for holding the illegal so called ‘black money’ in its banks and was questioned by the OECD. Also, its neutrality has been facing the question developed by the increasing amount of globalization that makes Switzerland susceptible from the world influence. Now it is time for Switzerland to make a decision that will be imperative in deciding the whole nations’ fate.

Sovereignty, Authority and Power                      

Legitimacy

The important source of legitimacy is 1847 Civil Warbetween protestant liberals and catholic conservatives. Conservatives arose after end of Napoleon regime, and liberals expanded their power with liberal entrepreneurs in the era of industrialization. In 1840s conflict between two groups escalated. Liberals wanted to attain their demands about revised constitution, stronger central government and freedom of worship. However the conservatives wanted to protect their interest, so seven catholic cantons (Lucern, Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden, Fribourg, Zujg, and Valais) formed defensive alliance “Sonderbund” against liberals in 1845. Conclusively, liberals voted for dissolution of Sondurbond, and conservatives rejected it. The seven cantons declared civil war against liberals, but easily suppressed by them. 1848 Federal Constitiutionlegitimized liberals’ victory on civil war. Newly formed constitution combined essential parts of U.S. Constitution and ideas of French Revolution.

Historical Traditions

Federalism

Switzerland, the country itself was founded with spirit of federalism. The very first Swiss Confederation was formed in 1291 by cantons of Schwyz, Uri and Unterwaldento defend their autonomy against counts of Habsburg.  Later, cantons of Lucerne, Zurich and Bern, Ticino, Aargau, Thurgau and Vaud followed to join the confederation. This process of foundation shows that federalism is absolutely necessary for the Switzerland, because from the first place, it started to protect its own autonomy. Therefore the formation of stateshould not disturbautonomyof each canton. Even revolution of 1789 (led by French Revolution) couldn’t stop tradition of federalism. Helvetic republic founded by revolutionary leaders of 1789 revolution administrated new central government, but it couldn’t control cantons’ will of self determination. Finally, After the years of chaotic situation, emperor Napoleon made new constitution called “Meditation Constitution” which properly mixed ideas of federalists and essentials of revolution. Tradition of federalism is still greatly influential in the politics of Switzerland. It is one of the core ideas of Swiss political system.

Neutralism

Neutralism was an undeniable choice of Switzerland to protect itself from surrounding five nations. Switzerland is a center of routes connecting plenty of European nations, so the countries around it wanted to use it for diverse purposes like trade route, or war strategy. Therefore, the small nation had to confirm itself as neutral nation which anyone can’t disturb. To achieve the result, Switzerland showed that it has enough power to preserve the circumstance. Switzerland still has strong arm forces these days. Also to preserve its status as a neutral nation, many organizations related to international affairs are situated in Switzerland.

Political Culture

Direct democracy

The political culture of Switzerland was largely influenced by direct democracy. With direct democracy, citizens could have better opportunities to decide their opinion about important political issues. With these opportunities, the citizens can collect more information about overall politics and politicians. Informed citizens make politicians work only for the country and citizens, not for their personal interests. Also the weight of citizens’ decision makes them more responsible with their political rights

Geographical Influence

Mountains

The Alps passes through south and southeast part of Switzerland, and mount Jura is situated in the northern part. The area between two mountain ranges is most populated area because it is comparatively flat, and has gradual slope. Alpine passes of the Alps are very important geographical feature in Switzerland. These passes are important pass ways between the northern and southern part of Europe. For these pass ways, many countries tried to have control of Switzerland, but ironically rugged mountain ranges deterred foreign controls.

Border with the surrounding countries

Switzerland is a landlocked country. It borders withAustria, France, Italy, Liechtenstein and Germany. As a result, Switzerland has gotten tremendous influence from surrounding countries. It has diversity of ethnicity and language. Therefore it has four official languages, which are French, German, Italian and Romansh. The diversity of the country stems from frequent invasions, and mergers with nearby countries. 

Varied climates

  Switzerland is located in a transition zone of climate, with many determinants of climate like Mediterranean Sea, Atlantic Ocean and Alps. Therefore it has a wide variety of climates – from warm, humid plateaus to cold, dry mountains.

POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC CHANGE              

Roman rule(100 B.C~400 A.D)

Before the Romans conquered what is now Switzerland, Celtic people inhabited. However, by the invasion of the Roman Empire lead by Julius Cesar, including the Gallic War, Romans took control of the area. In this period, the modern territory of Switzerland has been settled. Also in this time of periods, many important economic, especially commercial cities have been established greatly enhancing the level of trade between other nations. These cities include: Zurich, Basel Geneva, and Lausanne where more than 100,000 residents inhabit. In addition, many of the Swiss cities’ names including the four cities mentioned above have roots in Roman. 

Early Middle Ages (400 A.D~1000 A.D)

Although the Romans and the Germanic tribes held equitable amount of powers until 400 A.D, Germanic tribes began to increase in their influence and power. As the Roman Empire collapsed, Switzerland went under the influence of Germans such as the Alemanni and the Burgundians. Different races and cultures, especially the different languages, settled in this period. Christianity, which was already introduced by the Romans, began to become widely spread due to the works of the missionaries. As the power of Christianity began to escalate, the power of the church also arose became the major landowners. At 800 A.D Switzerland went under the control of the Frankish king Charlemagne. However until this period, the definition of state has not been firmly established and the kings depended on personal connections with the nobles. Also, major political powers continually shifted from the kings, dukes and churches. In 962 as Otto I became the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, Switzerland then became part of it as a small, ecclesiastic property of the imperial sovereignty.

Middle Ages

 With the opening of new trade routes through the Alps regions and the increment of the significance, autonomy has been granted to the Alps regions under the Emperor’s discretion. 

However after the death of the Holy Roman Emperor, in order to prevent disturbance and violence and protect liberty, the Swiss Confederation was founded in 1291. This confederation kept the promise between the three rural communities comprised of Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden for a mutual support, and autonomous administrative and judicial rights. This Confederation during the next two centuries expanded including thirteen urban and rural members in Switzerland. The confederation continuously gained military autonomy and finally became independent from the Holy Roman Empire in 1499.

The Reformation period

The reformist period started as a religious conflict within Switzerland when a Zurich church minister adopted Protestantism and many others joined this trend. This religious conflict became wars between each canton, which are the distinctive provincial districts in Switzerland, but the Confederation still survived. Although this religious reform movement might simply represent a religious difference, it actually implies the severe conflicts between the differentsocial cleavages. People at that time were dissatisfied with the corrupt Catholic monks who held great power and wealth and discriminated or repressed rural religions and the poor.

The French rule

As a result of the French Revolution War, Switzerland came under the rule of the French Empire and became the Helvetic that abolished the canton system. At this time, Swiss people suffered from highly unstable political and economic turmoil. Through the Act of Mediation, Napoleon revived some of the canton’s sovereignty and as the French became weak, the Congress of Vienna established Switzerland as an independent nation and allowed it to be permanently neutral. 

The Federal State

In the 1840s, the Radical party, which was mainly constituted of the Protestants, proposed a new constitution that would bring about the cantons together. However this faced severe oppositions from the conservative Catholics and lead to a civil war. It was a clear victory to the Radicals and the Federal Constitution was adopted in 1848 creating Switzerland a federal state comprised of distinct and independent cantons. Also this constitution allowed free flow and the prosperity of the economy through abolishing internal tolls, unifying weights, currency and taking control of the postal system. Much of the present form of government has been adopted since.

CITIZENS, SOCIETY AND THE STATE                

Switzerland lies at the crossroads of several major European cultures. Swiss citizens are heavily affected by them, shaping social cleavages based on the different cultures they take part in.

Language

Switzerland has four official languages: German in the north, east and center of the country; French to the west; Italian in the south. German is the most widely used language in the country (72.5%), but it is different from the standard German used in the native country. Still, Swiss citizens can understand the standard German, and the written version does not show any difference. All official documents are published in four languages; all schools require their students to learn at least two languages.

Religion

Switzerland does not have an official religion on the federal level, and guarantees freedom of worship. However, the majority of citizens are Christians, mainly Roman Catholic and Protestants. The historical background of the establishment of Switzerland also includes the role of Roman Catholics and Protestants. Roman Catholics account for almost half of the population, concentrated in south central areas. The Swiss Guard composed of male Swiss Roman Catholics over 29 is especially famous in the Vatican.

Region

The location in peripheral regions does not seem to increase people's feelings of deprivation. However, irrespective of the region, lower strata seem to be more alienated than higher strata. Most people who live in alpine peripheries are more strongly rooted in their local communities than those in lowland regions and agglomerations. To support this, several referenda behaviors show how people along the hinterlands and centers value different aspects.

Political Values

Participative democracy

The Swiss find a compromise in every issue instead of taking majority decisions. Though somewhat slow and inefficient, no political party really wants to change the system because it contributes to long-term political stability and broad acceptance of laws.

Federalism and subsidiarity

Swiss federalism does not decide everything on the local level. The Swiss federal constitution consists of three parts, which are fundamental rights of the individuals, competences and duties of the federal and cantonal authorities and organization of the federal authorities. The basic principles have remained untouched for the last 150 years, with at least one small change to the constitution every year. Those changes concern mostly the responsibilities of authorities in the national and cantonal level.

Political Participation

A remarkable thing about Switzerland's political system is Direct Democracy: impressive amount of participation in the political process is guaranteed to ordinary citizens. Swiss citizens are not only able to elect members of the various government institutions at local, cantonal and national levels but also to vote on legislative proposals. At federal level Swiss citizens can exercise two democratic rights, which are the popular initiative and the referendum. In forms of petitions, citizens can make requests, complaints and proposals. At cantonal and regional level there are more instruments of direct democracy. Frequent use of them is not only encouraged by Switzerland's Constitution, but practiced actively by the citizens. They do have a stabilizing influence on parliament, government and society.

POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS                          

Citizens in Switzerland are exposed to three legal jurisdictions; the commune, canton and federal levels. The 1848 federal constitution defined a political system in Switzerland to be direct democracy. The nature of the regime takes into account Swiss political culture and traditions. Existing political parties, elections, and institutions of government are followed by direct democracy.

Political parties

Most established democracy took numerous ages to develop political parties and electoral systems. Switzerland has also set up four competitive political parties since 1959. Each party has a number of seats that shows its share of electorate and representation in the federal parliament. The four parties are Social Democrats, Liberal Democrats, Swiss People’s Party and Christian Democrats.

Social Democrats

The party is the largest left wing political party in Switzerland. It was founded on 21 October 1888. This party is currently the second largest one of the four representing political parties in Switzerland. Social Democratic Party is currently the left most party, having representatives in the Swiss Federal Council, and second largest one in the Swiss parliament. The party is the pro-European party that champions Swiss membership of the European Union, contrary to other parties.

Liberal Democrats

Free Democratic Party, which refers to Liberal Democrats, was established in 1894 from the radicals who had powerful influence on Swiss politics since the 1830s. These radicals were against the Catholic Conservatives at that time. The party remained dominant until the emergence of proportional representation in 1919. The party started to decline in the 1990s and 2000s; it was put under pressure of Swiss People’s Party. The party’s ideology remains to be classical liberalism and radicalism.

Swiss People’s Party

The party is a national conservative and the right wing political party in Switzerland. The party is the largest party in the Federal Assembly, having 54 members of the National Council and 5 of the Council of States. This party was founded in 1971 by unifying Party of Farmers, Traders and Independents and the Democratic Party. Initially, the party was not strong enough since there was no structural system to support Traders and Independents inside the party. ChristophBlocher, however, went through the significant structural and ideological changes which led the party to be the strongest one in Switzerland by 2000s. The party is attentive to issues with ‘euroscepticism’ and opposes to immigration.

Christian Democrats

The party is the fourth-largest party in the National Council, with 31 seats, and the largest in the Council of States, with 15 seats. It has one seat on the Swiss Federal Council. This party was established in 1912. The goals of the party are to advocate Christian Democracy, the social market economy and social conservatism. The influence of the party is most powerful in Catholic rural places.

Media

The media demonstrates to be the typical trait of democracy in Switzerland. The freedom of press and the right of free expression are guaranteed in the federal constitution in Switzerland. The most dominant broadcasting media is Swiss News Agency which delivers news in three of four national languages and focuses on politics, economics and culture. The great number of newspapers has been a pride of Switzerland since almost every city has at least one local newspaper. In Switzerland, cultural diversity is the easy one to recognize, and with respect to the phenomenon, there exist numerous foreign newspapers and local newspapers translated into different languages.

Electoral system

The voting system in Switzerland is typical in that it follows direct democracy. The voting occurs four times a year with referendums, where people directly vote for policies and elections, where populace votes for officials. There are typically three elections ‘National Council, Council of States and Cantonal elections’. For National Council, the proportional representation is presented to be the major component deciding the number of seats. Council of States has nationwide National Council elections which has the procedure of plurality voting system. Cantonal elections show that the voters also vote for the government of each canton. There are no party votes in cantonal elections and only candidate votes exist.

PUBLIC POLICY AND CURRENT ISSUES             

Switzerland, as the wealthiest country in the world and a neutral state, has overcome tough situations very wisely. In 2008 economic crisis, Switzerland’s economy suffered as did many other nations, but to less extent, thanks to its independence from euro. However, Switzerland is increasing its global influence by joining the United Nations and attempting to join in the European Union.

\2008 Global Economic Crisis

Since its economy is largely based on international trade, Switzerland suffered from global economic crisis in 2008. Its economic growth rate hit -2.7% in second quarter in 2009, and the unemployment rate hit 4%, the highest since 2004. However, Switzerland soon recovered with 0.3% growth rate in third quarter in 2009, and 2.6% in 2010. Swiss government announced the economic stimulus of 1.5 billion Swiss francs on November 2008 and additional expansionary measures in 2009, most of which were invested to energy development and environment conservation.

Swiss Bank

Swiss banks’ bank secrecy served convenient for clients, but was susceptible to money laundering and black money. Thus, in 2009, the United States litigated the Union Bank of Switzerland for list of 52,000 American clients with secret accounts, and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) pressured to add Switzerland to the “grey list”, a list of countries serving as tax heaven. Switzerland decided to mitigate its bank secrecy and signed a contract for tax information exchange with US, Denmark, Mexico, Luxemburg, UK, and Qatar in 2009.

Energy and Environment

Switzerland generates most of its electricity from hydroelectricity and nuclear power, being almost carbon dioxide-free nation. Moreover, on May 2011, the Swiss government announced to stop using nuclear power in next twenty or thirty years, concerning the tragedy of Fukushima nuclear power plant explosion. Switzerland is one of the cleanest countries in the world. Switzerland signed the Kyoto Protocol and ratified it in 2003, and with Mexico and South Korea, Switzerland forms the Environmental Integrity Group (EIG). Switzerland is also an active recycler, with 66% to 96% of recycle rate. It encourages recycling by giving incentives and requiring the use of payment stickers or official disposal bags.

European Union

As a neutral state with national sovereignty, Switzerland remained one of the few non-member countries of European Union. The referendum in 1999 and popular vote in 2001 voted against joining EU. However, since 70% of international trades involve EU, Switzerland is forced to take more active role. Therefore, Switzerland minimized the negative effects of being excluded from EU by signing seven bilateral agreements, which include free movement of persons, tax decrease in agricultural products, cooperation in technologies, and etc. In 2004, Switzerland signed additional nine agreements which include Schengen Treaty, a treaty which allows common border controls among EU nations, and Dublin Convention. Indeed, Switzerland is adjusting its policies to major EU treaties and expanding use of euro.

Switzerland has maintained its neutrality for long course of years. Its independence allowed it to develop a strong nation. However, Switzerland is facing a new trend of globalization, in which it is no longer free from influences of other countries. Switzerland’s next step, whether it is maintenance of neutrality or further integration to EU, is yet to see.

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