Switzerland A Political Report
Switzerland: A Political Report
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Introduction
The Swiss Confederation, popularly known as Switzerland, is a small landlocked country located in central Europe and bordered by France, Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein, and Italy. The country occupies an area of approximately 16,000 miles and is made up of picturesque landscapes of snowcapped mountains, large clear lakes, valleys, and glacier alps. Switzerland is among the world’s richest nations, with a high gross domestic product per capita (Klaus, 2015). According to the world bank, Switzerland’s GDP per capita in 2020 was $71 742 while the country’s GDP was $732 billion. Its population is highly skilled, and the country has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the world. High-tech manufacturing, low corporate tax rates, and efficient financial services contribute to Switzerland’s strong economy. As Swiss banking offers high levels of privacy, this industry attracts a lot of foreign investors making this sector a major contributor to the country’s economy.
The Swiss Confederation was first founded in 1291, and it was an alliance made up of three defensive cantons that fought Habsburg dynasty foreign rule. In 1499, the Swiss Confederation gained its independence from the Holy Roman Empire, and in 1848 a new constitution was introduced. This constitution was revised in 1874, and it turned the confederation into a federal government with a centralized system (CIA, 2022). This change ended Switzerland’s period of conflict and, in part, motivated the country’s neutrality attitude and stance. Switzerland’s neutrality stance is known and accepted across the world. Switzerland has a population of slightly more than 8.5 million people. Of this number, 69.3% are ethnically Swiss, 4.2% are German, 3.2% are Italian, and 2.1% are French. Most Swiss people are multi-lingual, with Swiss German, Italian and French being the official and widely used languages (CIA, 2022). Due to the country’s terrain, most of its population is distributed in the northern and western parts, with 74.1% of people living in urban areas (CIA, 2022).
Structure of National Government
Switzerland has a federal system of government comprised of three levels. These levels are the communes, the cantons, and the confederation. Each level has autonomy, and decisions are made based on the principle of subsidiary (Political System, 2021). Switzerland is a direct democracy, and its citizens can exercise their democratic participation rights through voting. It gives them a direct say on the decisions made at all three levels of government. The communes are the level of government closest to the people, and it gives the Swiss citizens the most access to political processes. Apart from the usual voting rights, Swiss citizens also have the right to vote on specific communal affairs. The communes are small administrative units, and their autonomy is guaranteed through Article 50 of the Federal Constitution. Autonomy allows communes to manage themselves and adopt their standards subject to the country’s higher laws that take priority. Some of the communes responsibilities include social services, key supply services, and disposal services (Doe, 2017). Therefore, they perform road maintenance, water and sanitation, electricity, local planning, and collecting taxes. Some communes have their parliament, and communal decisions are made at the communal assembly. Elected executives lead the communes with three to nine members (Doe, 2017). Each communal executive heads an administrative unit, and a communal president leads the entire communal council.
The next level of government is the cantons. Switzerland has 26 sovereign cantons whose autonomy is spelled out through Article 3 of the Federal Constitution (Doe, 2017). Each canton has its constitution, parliament, government, and court, and they exercise all the rights not assigned to the confederation. Cantonal parliaments are named differently depending on the region, and members are elected on four-year terms. Each Cantonal member of parliament represents 300 people; hence cantonal parliaments have varying numbers of members of parliament. The duties of cantonal parliaments include adopting laws, managing its court, and supervising the government. Cantonal executives are elected on a four-year term; however, Jura, Vaud, and Geneva elect its executive on a five-year term. Cantonal governments are made of five to seven cantonal executive members, and they each run a department within the cantonal administration (Doe, 2017). Cantonal administrations oversee education, construction and environment, security, finance, social affairs, and justice. Cantonal governments are the highest governing bodies in cantons, and they represent the canton to the federal government and other cantonal governments.
The confederation is the highest level of government. It is responsible for defense, foreign policy, energy policy, security policy, and law-making. These duties require uniform regulation as they are applied nationwide. Other duties that the confederation oversees include criminal, civil, and procedural law legislation. The confederation has a national parliament, and it’s located in the capital city of Bern. The confederation parliament is comprised of 200 national council members and 46 council of state members who make up the united federal assembly (Doe, 2017). The national council members represent the entire country, and they are made up of representatives from the 26 cantons. Cantons with small populations have one seat, while populous cantons such as Zurich have multiple seats. The 46 councils of state members are representatives from the 26 cantons, with 20 cantons having two seats each and the six former half cantons having one seat each. The united federal assembly members are elected on a four-year part-time basis. Since the council members are elected on a part-time basis, they only meet in four sessions per year, with each session going for three weeks (Doe, 2017). During these sessions, members discuss constitutional amendments and international treaties and oversee the federal administration. The united federal assembly members elect seven members among themselves to create the federal council. From these seven members, the united federal assembly then elects a federal president whose term runs for one year. The seven federal council members run the federal administration departments. Currently, members of the Federal council are from the governing parties of SVP, FDP, SP, and CVP.
Issues of National Politics
Deteriorating relations with the European Union is one of the biggest political issues that Switzerland has faced in the last five years. In May 2021, Switzerland stopped its negotiations with the EU on the Institutional Framework Agreement (IFA). As Switzerland is not part of the EU, the goal of the IFA was to create a governance framework system that would develop and enhance bilateral trade between the EU and Switzerland (Eckert, 2022). By ending the IFA negotiations, Switzerland was perceived as not willing to commit to its existing commitments with the EU (Schimmelfennig, 2022). Swiss citizens with anti-European sentiments viewed this move as a snub toward the bullying EU. In contrast, citizens with more favorable EU sentiments viewed this move as an indication of a possible break-up with the EU. The Swiss government faced a double crisis by pulling out of the IFA negotiations. The first crisis was international, as this move compromised its relations with the Eu, while the second crisis was domestic (Church, 2021). The public was unaware of how this decision was made, and there was no reference to parliament. Switzerland was going through growing domestic tensions at the time. By announcing the end of the IFA negotiations unusually, the Swiss government further heightened tensions in the country. While it is highly unlikely that Switzerland will end its bilateral relations with the EU, the country’s stance to continue its relationship with the EU in a very particular manner is bound to cause further tensions in the future.
Switzerland also witnessed another political controversy in September of 2021. The right-wing Swiss people’s party (SVP) had been campaigning to end free movement with the European Union. This campaign came on the heels of Brexit. The reasoning behind it was that an anti-free movement policy would enable Switzerland to control its borders and only accept the immigrants it wanted. Before this campaign, the SVP had run a successful campaign to introduce quotas on immigrants from the EU in 2014. This policy made the relationship between the EU and Switzerland strained, and as a result, the Swiss government had to compromise and make a deal with the EU. This deal saw Switzerland employers prioritize their foreign workers’ permanent residency regardless of the unemployment rate in different industries. While the Swiss people voted against the end of free movement with the EU, a growing number of Swiss citizens agree with SVP’s position that Swiss citizens should enjoy preferential access to jobs, have stricter policies on immigration from the EU, and maintain a more Isolationist and neutrality stance (Mazzoleni, 2016). These policies on immigration are based on the growing sentiment that the small country is getting crowded due to the estimated 2 million immigrants living in the country (Mazzoleni, 2016). Moreover, there is an underlying belief that Swiss workers may experience pay undercuts due to immigrants’ cheap labor.
Other political controversies witnessed in the country include paternity leave for new fathers, hunting laws, the legalization of same-sex marriages, and covid-19 restriction measures. Switzerland’s parental leave provisions have long been seen as lagging compared to other European nations. By the end of 2020, the Swiss people voted into law two weeks of paid paternal leave for new fathers. This leave is granted to new fathers within the first six months of the birth of a child. The voters also blocked a revision of the country’s hunting laws and passed the legalization of same-sex marriages. This law will also enable transgender people and intersex people to update their identification documents easily. As of the 2nd of May 2022, the Swiss government is set to ease all restrictions on travelers regardless of their country of origin. Despite the challenges highlighted, Switzerland’s future remains promising, and the country continues to be an example of how direct democracy can be an efficient form of governance.
References
Church, C. H. (2021). Switzerland is facing a dual crisis over its relations with the EU. LSE European Politics and Policy (EUROPP) blog.
CIA. (2022). Switzerland- The World Factbook.https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/switzerland/Doe, J. (2017). Main Executive and Legislative Bodies – Eurydice – European Commission. Eurydice – European Commission. https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/national-policies/eurydice/content/main-executive-and-legislative-bodies-115_enEckert, S. (2022). Sectoral Governance under the EU’s Bilateral Agreements and the Limits of Joint Institutional Frameworks: Insights from EU‐Swiss Bilateralism for Post‐Brexit Relations with the UK. JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies.
Klaus. (2015). Switzerland – Country Profile – Nations Online Project. Nationsonline.org. https://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/switzerland.htmMazzoleni, O. (2016). Staying away from the mainstream: The case of the Swiss People’s party. In Radical Right-Wing Populist Parties in Western Europe (pp. 211-225). Routledge.
Political System. (2021). https://www.eda.admin.ch/aboutswitzerland/en/home/politik-geschichte/politisches-system.htmlSchimmelfennig, F. (2022). Switzerland: Solidarity Taken Hostage. In European Solidarity in Action and the Future of Europe (pp. 161-163). Springer, Cham.
