Politics

Switzerland became a federal country in 1848 and has continued with the same form of government since this year. The federation established a constitution that enabled the country to find balance between the central government and each of the cantons. For historical reasons, Switzerland is still called a confederation but it is in reality a federation because there is a central government.

Each canton, which is equivalent to a province, has its own constitution, government, parliament, laws, and courts. Each canton’s rules must be coordinated with the confederation but are still allowed a generous amount of freedom. Taxation, education, police force, and social services are exclusive to each canton. Small cantons can meet and allow each member to voice their vote, but in larger areas delegates place their vote. The 26 cantons are divided into smaller sections called communes and each commune possesses the freedom to create laws about education, transportation, and health with their administrative authorities.  The communes also collect local and cantonal taxes. The communes are usually small enough for each member of the town to cast their vote for decisions at the regular conferences. As the world becomes more advanced it is becoming more difficult for businesses and individual governments to work between the cantons, which made it necessary for them to be grouped into regions. The leaders of each department (i.e education) meet in conferences to ensure actions among the cantons are working cop esthetically.

Switzerland has established a Militia system; this means members of the Swiss community are expected to take a political position in office while also performing their regular career. The army is the best and most popular way for people to participate in the militia, but it is highly unprofessional as they hold their position neutrality.

Switzerland is a democratic country and operates as most democracies do. The citizens of the country elect representatives to make decisions on their behalf. Switzerland takes democracy to a new level because it allows individuals to directly suggest legislation to the government and prevent legislation that has already been accepted by parliament. The parliament can only thwart the citizen proposals if it is unconstitutional. The government allows the community to vote for the entire country 4 times per year on an estimated 20 issues per year. The cantons and communes produce more issues that need to be settled and will require the small communities to vote several times per year. Despite that Switzerland is one of the oldest democracies in the world; women have only been allowed to vote in federal elections since 1971. This is another example of Switzerland working to create an equal environment for women.

The government is known as the federal council. There are 7 members in the council and each year they take turns with presidency. Taking the position of presidency does not consent to more power or special privileges. The federal councilman will still have to perform the tasks he committed to before presidency. The 7 members of the federal council represent the ministries of the country. The federal chancellery attends the meetings with the council to simply advise the decisions and actions being made. Members of the federal council are elected by parliament and anyone is allowed to nominate themselves for the position. A group of councilors will remain in office until it is time for parliament whom elected them to step down. Every four years a new parliament is elected and the councilors have the opportunity to submit their profile for re-election.

7 federal departments:

·         Federal Department of Foreign Affairs

·         Federal Department of Justice and Police

·         Federal Department of the Interior

·         Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications

·         Federal Department of Finance

·         Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sports

·         Federal Department of Economic Affairs

The government seats were formerly distributed among the political parties based on how large the party was.  Each party was given 2 seats, except the Swiss people’s party because they were the smallest and only needed 1 seat. After the 2003 election, the Swiss party became the largest party and took one seat from the Christian Democrats. This change took place after 131 years of the same system.

Political parties:

Free Democrats: 2 seats

Social Democrats: 2 seats

Christian Democrats: 2 seats (currently 1 seat)

Swiss People’s Party: 1 seat (currently 2 seats)

            The parliament branch has two chambers; one that represents the people and one that represents the cantons. Being a member of the federal government is not a full time position. The chambers meet for 3 weeks at a time, 4 weeks out of the year. The cantons vary in size and the parliament does not want the power of larger cantons to outweigh the smaller cantons. There are 200 seats for members of the cantons in the national council, and the seats are distributed based on the population. The states council has 2 seats for every canton and 1 seat for smaller cantons; the total is 46 seats. The chambers work together to create and pass all the federal laws while also allowing members of the cantons to make suggestions.  The chambers are also responsible for electing the president and vice president. The government in Switzerland has always proved to be stable, but their form of democracy takes a longer period of time to pass laws because they allow public opinion to form their regulations.

Bern Parliament buildings