Swiss Federalism
Swiss Federalism

Author: Adrian Vatter

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2018-06-12

Total Pages: 234

ISBN-13: 135186582X

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The political and economic crisis of EU integration has made it increasingly apparent how challenging it is to bring together different sovereign cultures, languages and regions into a single political system. Switzerland – being one of the three classic federations in the world – can provide insights, particularly in relation to the accommodation of cultural, linguistic, religious and regional diversity, which can help tackle contemporary challenges. This book describes and analyses the characteristics, institutions, and processes of Swiss federalism, along with its combination of stability and change. It presents a comprehensive study of the federal system of Switzerland, where it comes from, how it operates, and the way it has changed of late. This will allow readers to appreciate the specific and current answers the Swiss case offers to the main questions raised by wider federal research. This text will be of key interest to scholars and students in federalism and territorial politics, political institutions, local and regional government studies, multi-level governance and more broadly to European and comparative politics.

Federalism--the Swiss Experience
Federalism--the Swiss Experience

Author: Nicolas Schmitt

Publisher:

Published: 1996

Total Pages: 190

ISBN-13:

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This title offers readers an insight into one of the most sophisticated constitutional and political systems of the world. Very little has been written in English on the differenent levels of government.

Swiss Constitutional Law
Swiss Constitutional Law

Author: Thomas Fleiner

Publisher: Kluwer Law International B.V.

Published: 2005-01-01

Total Pages: 310

ISBN-13: 9041124047

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Switzerland is not only one of the oldest democracies in the world, but also an enduring model of peaceful multiethnic policy, characterized by a Constitution that is constant flux. The new Federal Constitution of the Swiss Confederation took effect on January 1, 2000; and it is with the intention of staying abreast of the constitutional changes and of the case law of the Federal Court that the authors have prepared the current volume. A general introduction of the constitutional history and the foundations of the Swiss political system are followed by the following issues: Sources of Swiss Constitutional Law; Organisational Design of the Swiss Confederation; Federalism in General and the Position of the Cantons and the Municipalities in the Swiss Confederation; Citizenship, Fundamental Rights and Liberties and their Judicial Protection, Protection of Minorities, Judicial Control of Administrative Action; Treaty and Foreign Affairs Powers, Taxing and Spending Powers, the Relationship between the State and the Church. Thomas Fleiner is Professor of constitutional and administrative law and Director of the Institute for Federalism at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland; Alexander Misic, lic.iur., LL.M.; Nicole Toepperwien, Dr. iur., LL.M.

Swiss Democracy
Swiss Democracy

Author: W. Linder

Publisher: Springer

Published: 1998-02-12

Total Pages: 230

ISBN-13: 1349260452

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An authoriative analysis of Swiss democracy, the institutions of federalism, and consensus democracy through political power sharing. Linder analyses the scope and limits of citizen's participation in direct democracy, which distinguishes Switzerland most from parliamentary systems. Central and Eastern Europe and all countries with minority problems could learn much of value from this study.

Fiscal Federalism in Switzerland
Fiscal Federalism in Switzerland

Author: Bernard Dafflon

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 78

ISBN-13: 0050627090

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Its highly fragmented structure of local governments and serious horizontal fiscal imbalances make Switzerland a surprisingly powerful model for Eastern European countries that are currently facing the challenge of fiscal decentralization. In spite of the substantial differences in the tradition and current practice of intergovernmental fiscal relations, transition economies may learn valuable lessons from the Swiss case in the fields of direct democracy, horizontal cooperation, expenditure and revenue assignment, and fiscal discipline. Among other conclusions, the authors suggest that subnational authorities can effectively fend off recentralization attempts of the central government if they engage in spontaneous cooperation to enhance the efficiency of public service provision. Together with an adequate fiscal equalization scheme, interjurisdictional cooperation also permits the reconciliation of the objective of an increasing devolution of powers with the existing regional disparities. The authors also show that the principle of subsidiarity can best be safeguarded by anchoring the expenditure and revenue powers of subnational governments in the constitution or in a similarly strong law. With regard to fiscal discipline, the combination of a "golden rule" with direct democratic instruments of budget control is proven to be successful in enhancing the accountability of local politicians toward their constituencies.

The Swiss Political System and Local Government
The Swiss Political System and Local Government

Author: Michael Sell

Publisher: GRIN Verlag

Published: 2003-11-07

Total Pages: 22

ISBN-13: 3638228851

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Seminar paper from the year 2003 in the subject Politics - Region: Western Europe, grade: 1,3 (A), University of Constance (Faculty for Management Studies), course: Comparative Local Government, language: English, abstract: Switzerland is one of the smallest, oldest and most complex democratic federal states. Local political structure is far more important in Switzerland than in the centralized polities of most modern European countries, given the historically decentralized nature of the Swiss system (see Hass, J.K. 1999: 1067). “Thus the Swiss municipal organisation has proved to be extremely stable in comparison to other countries. They strongly vary in size and the majority are very small. Between 1848 and 1998 the number of municipalities was reduced only from 3204 to 2914 “(see Ladner, A. 1991: 5-6). In this paper, the focus will be on the local government in Switzerland. But before we come to this part, we think it is necessary to give an overall view of Switzerland in general and its political system. Here, we will also introduce the issue of direct democracy in Switzerland, as we think it is a characteristic political element within the Swiss democracy and also plays an important role on the communal and local level. Then we will describe the local level in detail. This will include a short summary about the development of the Swiss communes in history, the role of the communes given by the Swiss constitution, the structure and organization of communes and the responsibilities they have. Finally, we will comment our findings and draw conclusions about the grade of decentralization and what follows from this for the Swiss democracy.

Swiss Democracy
Swiss Democracy

Author: Wolf Linder

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2021-01-20

Total Pages: 310

ISBN-13: 3030632660

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This open access book provides an updated and fully revised 4th edition of this authoritative analysis of Swiss democracy. It particularly explains the institutions of federalism and consensus government through political power sharing. In this new edition, the authors also address several important changes and challenges that have affected Swiss democracy, including the country's relationship with the EU, fiscal equalisation, direct democracy and the legitimacy of national referendums, territorial conflict, as well as the polarisation of party politics.

The Swiss Labyrinth
The Swiss Labyrinth

Author: Jan-Erik Lane

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-10-23

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 1135276013

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It can be argued that Switzerland has a peculiar set of political institutions, for example decentralized federalism, active referendum democracy, and La formule magique (grand coalition). This volume focuses upon the political and social outcomes of these institutions in the 1990s.