Direct Democratic Practice at the Local and Cantonal Level in Switzerland

• Authors: Musial-Karg M.
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

Direct democracy, defined as a set of procedures giving all citizens the right to make decisions binding to the state, is considered to be the most pure form of democracy, because of the way in which the nation expresses its opinion as to how it should function. Switzerland is a country with one of the longest traditions of direct democracy in the world. Direct democracy is a well-established part of the Swiss political system. Referenda and initiatives are central elements of Swiss political life. Voters have a range of rights which give them a direct influence on policies at every level. Citizens who want to put forward proposals of their own or who object to legislation already passed by Parliament can use popular initiative and referenda to oblige the authorities to put the issue to the people as a whole. Referendum and initiative are the most important and most frequently used forms of direct democracy. These institutions have strongly shaped the Swiss political system and the history of this small federal state. Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation (Confederatio Helvetica – CH) has three political levels. The federal authorities represent the highest level of power in Switzerland. The second level that of the cantons, and the next, the local level, is that of the municipalities. The use of popular initiatives and referenda has been practiced there for a long time, and these instruments are available to Swiss voters not only at the national level, but at the cantonal and communal levels as well. Each canton can choose its own way of allowing citizens to participate in decision-making processes. In the cantons and the communes the number of popular votes has been stable at a high level in the last three decades. However, there are big differences between individual cantons and communes. For example, voters in the canton of Zurich were able to vote on no fewer than 457 separate issues between 1970 and 2003. Over the same period, only 53 cantonal issues came to the vote in the canton of Ticino. Communal voting patterns reveal even more extreme differences. Between 1990 and 2000, 848 issues were voted on in the communes of the canton of Bern. In the canton of Fribourg, only 4 issues came to the vote in the same ten years. These substantial differences cannot be accounted for simply by the difference in the number of communes within a canton. Without a doubt, people in Switzerland are able to participate in politics in increasingly binding ways at every level of the state. The body of experience of direct democracy in relation to cantonal and local issues confirms the tendency towards a more direct participation at all political levels. Direct democracy takes a wide variety of forms at both cantonal and communal levels and is more advanced in its development than at the national level. Referenda and initiatives strengthen not only the political role of citizens, but also the process of making political decisions. This paper is an attempt to make a more detailed analysis of the role of direct democratic institutions in Swiss cantons and communes.

Keywords

EN

DIRECT DEMOCRACY (SWITZERLAND)

Discipline

• POLITICAL_SCIENCES: POLITICAL SCIENCES

• Publisher: Institute of Political Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences and Collegium Civitas
• Journal: Studia Polityczne (Political Studies)
• Year: 2007
• Issue: 19
• Pages: 53-65
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Musial-Karg M.

• M. Musial-Karg, Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza, ul. H. Wieniawskiego 1, 61-712 Poznan, Poland

Identifiers

CEJSH db identifier

07PLAAAA03156514