We don't mate, the legislature has the decision power in democracies, they decide about taxes, spending, war and everything, its written in the constitution, the problem is that people thinks that it's just the president or the prime minister and because of that the legislature just wait their proposes to debate, and usually the people is so focused in the executive that the executive's party just obey this guy. I think your system is better any way, maybe electing direct by the people like many of your cantons would be great for the presidential system if my country 😅
As an American, here the US Congress is widely regarded as corrupt and incompetent. Their approval ratings have the public have been very low for a long time. They don't care about what the American people want or think. It's painfully obvious. At this point, I'd almost prefer a stronger executive leader (President) who can just get things done w/o having to deal with the greedy fools in the legislature. Roman Republic descending into Empire? Probably.
And thanks to russian propaganda, a growing number of right-wing swiss and european would now prefer a corrupted dictator than to live in a democracy...
I’m Swiss. I definitely prefer the Swiss democracy model over the American one any time of the day. It took us 700 years to build it up, but there’s a reason why Switzerland is often asked to mediate between countries in conflict: we’ve had all that time to practice dialogue among ourselves.
500 years of neutrality that Swiss ancestors have worked very hard and earned respect all over the world has sadly gone since Ukraine war broke out simply due to NATO enlargement! and I was literally shocked when I learned Swiss was also leading nation in sanctions against Russia!
@@Tsewang360 Leading? Our politicians were all hesitating at the beginning because of neutrality, but people all over the country started protesting, and since it is the sovereign people who ultimately decides, the politicians had to follow suit. They’re still being very prudent even so.
@pinkpaprika8410 Actually Angela Merkel, EU's gas CEO asked Trump to invade Ukraine and make it part of the EU because they sold russian gas for 10 times the price Putin asked them, driving the entire european continent to bankruptcy. Trump refused (now you know why they removed him). At that time Hunter biden became CEO of Ukraine war and by the time Ukraine will be part of the UE, Hunter will become one of the richest man in the world, selling energy to EU and to USA because despite Trump was able to make USA gas independent, with the North Pipeline, Biden undid that just to make US dependent from his son. We are in the middle of a medieval era because the media sucked people's mind and made them vote the wrong way for decades
And imagine seeing your politicians using public transport on a daily basis. I walked past Ueli Maurer and Simonetta Sommaruga at Bern mainstation countless times when commuting to work.
That is also a great way that politicians keep caring about public transport. In many countries they might say "public transport is important" but what they mean is "public transport for the poor is important". Noone with money uses it.
Pretty spot on, but leaves out some quite important parts. Per example that most decisions made by the government can be overturned be by the population through a popular referendum. Initiatives can not only come from parliament or the government, but from the people. The Federal Chancellery then has to ensure the correct procedure for popular initiatives, from the launch of an initiative to the referendum. Or any amendment to the Constitution by Parliament is subject to a mandatory referendum, i.e. it must be put to a popular vote.
And that leads to a situation where the government doesn’t even propose laws that they know would be overturned by a referendum, and the informal, but pretty crucial ‘Vernehmlassungsverfahren’. Of course the other side of the coin is that this only works if the Swiss people are reasonable and do not block painful, but necessary legislation, eg tax raises or cuts in the pension scheme.
@@venanziadorromatagni1641 I just tried to point out that the video lacks some crucial information. Assessing the efficiency of this system would be a separate issue altogether. :)
@@venanziadorromatagni1641 you mean raise taxes for companies that's what we should do , also no cuts for pensions since they told us since the 2000's that we won't have money past 2005 , we are 2024 have more than a year of reserves. but hey don't touch the money banks are working with, that money can't be touched because we invested it mimimimi. its more convenient to just raise the working age etc...
@@SWUnrealdude the retirement age was set at 65 when people were expected to live until like 69 or so... now people live until 89. That means everybody is retired for 24 years instead of 4... thats 6x as long.. while also having fewer young people working. How is that math supposed to make any sense?
I don't think you can summarize a WHOLE SYSTEM OF OGVERNMENT in just 6 minutes. There's bound to be details left out. No use nit picking. The intent of the video is just to show the MAJOR differences of what makes the Swiss system very different than most.
I once was in Berne to get a Visa. I stopped by the Swiss Capitol, to have a quick glance, the square was almost empty. Suddenly a person exits alone from the building. As he came closer I realised it was Ueli Maurer, the then President of Switzerland, Alone. He passed by me about 30m distance, then a random guy in a Suit approached him, they talked for 30s then the President went into a Restaurant. I was in DC a year before, the difference is flaberghastingnggngn
@@pinkpaprika8410 Members of the Swiss Federal Council, as well as certain other high-ranking officials in the Swiss government, are entitled to receive a General Abonnement (GA), also known as a Swiss Travel Pass. The GA allows unlimited travel on the Swiss Travel System network, which includes most trains, buses, and boats across Switzerland. And yes: I also had a federal counsil in front of me, when I was in Berne a while ago, in the supermarket buying some oranges...
Do something to bring the US system to the US. Switzerland is the only country with a sane system, the rest are still into "authoriy infuses people with superhuman qualities and the right to special privileges. The French Revolutiob chopped the head of the King but the myth that those in power are special persist in all other countries.
Didn't get flattened in WW1 nor WW2, then afterwards got to sit back lending out that Nazi gold to make max bank and have been living the high life off suffering of Jews and others ever since.
I'd like to see a followup video about how power is balanced between the central government and the cantons. I hear a lot about how Switzerland lets its constituent regions govern themselves in a way that hasn't been possible in America since Senators stopped being appointed by the individual states as a check against the encroachment of federal power. In a world where massive nation states are full of regions who want to break away for political, financial, cultural, ethnic, and religious reasons, it seems we may all have something to learn from the Swiss model.
A couple of useful details: after WWII, the Swiss Constitution was amended to ensure that power should never become the monopoly of a single political party, or be unduly influenced by some powerful corporation or lobby. Also, the president being co-opted among the members of the Federal Council ensures that we don’t get a president unfit for the job.
The two-party system is one of the major weaknesses for the US as it furthers partisanship instead of consensus. How do we overcome that trap? It's not like its in the constitution but the major parties have incentive to maintain it. The other weakness is that too much power is vested in the President, no matter which party the office holder is from. Committing acts of war should never be one person's decision. Too many other things also get done by executive order instead of carefully deliberated law. Congress should assert their authority as a counterweight (checks and balances - The Executive Branch is there to faithfully EXECUTE the laws passed by Congress, not to establish policy.), but has a hard time doing that in the current state of dysfunction.
@@genius11433 LOL. I know. We don't declare war anymore. Every President since FDR has authorized "limited" military action, which amount to acts of war without asking Congress first. They only ask once the run out of money to continue and have never been told "no".
Waging (declaring) war is Congress's job, not the President. The President is the leader of the armed forces and the military can only be used after Congress approves declaring war. In reality since WWII, it's been admittedly different but it's Congress that holds the purse strings and still has a say who America fights.
You did a great job at explaining our system, compliment. It was weird having to learn how other democracies worked when I was a child. I always asumed that the great advantage of a democracy is the willingness to compromise.
I'm Swiss and lived in my home country as well as in various places abroad in Asia. For all my love-hate relationship I have with Switzerland, there is no denying that its political system and it's integration into the culture is the best on earth. No need to be humble here.
I've loved the Swiss system for many years, and wish we had such a balanced and equal system in the U.S. I do think in this video you might have mentioned the militia congress (keeping their day jobs) and more discussion around the referendum and initiative, and even the canton decentralization of policy (setting tax rates, etc...). To me the Swiss have the closest to perfect government on the planet, and I'm so envious.
You are 100% correct! But do you know that our Constitutions was largely inspired by the US one? So much so, that our two countries were called sister republics... but the US have unfortunately lost their way... It is no longer a government of the people by the people!
As a Swiss citizen, I am enthusiastic about our political system❤. The difficulty, however, is that we often have to decide against our personal advantage when voting. In other words, we have to decide in a way that benefits Switzerland as a whole and not just me personally. In this respect, it takes a certain amount of common sense to see the country as a whole and not just me.
The collegial system of the Federal Council can lead to some pretty funny situations. For example, there is a political talk show for every initiative, where representatives of as many interest groups as possible debate with each other. Half a year ago, when it came to an initiative for more climate protection, the right-wing party launched a populist campaign in which, among other things, climate change was trivialised and the demands were presented differently. Both a representative of the Federal Council and a representative of the SVP (right-wing party) were on the talk show. The representative of the Federal Council was also from the SVP, but took the principle of collegiality very seriously. The presenter thought it was a very good idea to ask the Federal Councillor whether every statement made by the SVP representative was correct. This went on for the whole programme and was really funny to watch. The looks between the two got better and better. xd
This somewhat answers my question as to how they deal with misinformation and what otherwise looks like a perfect system. Open well moderated debate getting the most attention looks like a good way to minimize disinformation.
@@glike2whenever they have a referendum both sides will gather their main pros and cons and put that in a brochure which will then be automatically sent to all households.
I like the idea of a system of government that forces political parties to agree and prevents the concentration of power in one person or one side of politics. It would be nice if we had that in Australia but are politicians are too concerned with their or the parties interests to allow such a system to be adopted. It would mean that those in government would have to look after the interests of the people rather than themselves.
Nothing can really be so perfect that it couldn't be improved, and that certainly applies to us too. But in relation to other countries, we are probably a touch ahead.
I like the video However what I find the most important missing info is that many of the described peculiarities (multiparty government, rotating presidency, to some extent the representation of linguistic regions in the executive branch) are not law but mere convention among political parties. With mostly the same laws on the governmental organisation, Switzerland had a single party occupying the majority of parliament and all of the executive for decades during the 19th century. It's the adoption of proportional elections for the national council (instead of majority elections), popular initiatives on the constitutional level and facultative popular referenda on the level of acts that forced all parties to share power without having explicit rules requiring this.
Added to you good explainer, is the fact that as a ( con) federation, power is decentralised. Many important decisions are taken at Canton level or even municipality
er... what about the 4 referenda every quarter where the Swiss voters are asked questions about matters of State (proposed by those who question Swiss Law and which have individually gained >100k signatures supporting that question). (I paraphrase).
Representative democracy has run its course, we either bring the Swiss system, which is a rational improvement of the US Constitution or most representative will continue the slide towards Weimar 2.0
The system exists since 1848...I mean I wish you the best of luck but politicians always want more power even the ones who say they don't. I am not that old with 30yo yet I've read multiple times how foreign politicians claimed they want direct democracy. But they only say that as long as they are the weaker opposition party, once they are in power it's not a good idea to give the people more power...
I missed the fact, that the Swiss citizens (not the residents who are not citizens) are voting 4 times per year to approve and/or disapprove the governments work. This is the reason, that Switzerland is not a member of the evil EU, the population is not for that. NB: I wish, that more countries would have this system of direct democracy and take away the power of some single persons like i.e. the USA.
In some EU members, city halls promote local surveys about the problems being assessed and ask the population which is a priority for the short and long-term
Yes. This approach is often seen as a form of democratic participation that can increase communication and interaction between the government and the people and ensure that policy formulation is closer to public opinion.
Before I came to Switzerland I knew it’s a neutral country and I must say it’s good and hope it will continue as it is. I guess it’s the best political system here in Europe, thankful I live here.
Well...After Napoleon the swiss actually adapted a constitution that was almost a 1 to 1 copy of the US... Didn't work, so we had a civil war. ...I don't say you guys should have a civil war but it worked here.
I think the will, the belief in wanting to implement it is the most important step. You hear from time to time, "That's not possible for us...", but I'm convinced that it's possible, including the votes, after all, the elections are also possible.
@@Slithermotion hemmm.... if the present Swiss Constitution is indeed much inspired by the US one (but no 1 to 1 copy... no presidential function for instance...), its first version dates from 1848, the year AFTER the 1847 Sonderbund civil war.
@@st-ex8506 The present constitution isn‘tmuch inspired by the US but the constitution after restauration of the confederacy up until the civil war. Meaning after the helvetic republic and before 1848. Napolean invaded in 1799 and the origin of the current goverment structure are from 1848. My reference is in the timeline of that 50 years.
NZer here - this looks like an *excellent* system! Very pragmatic - distributed power and decision-making rather than having all power in one person's hands (like *Russia*). Heck - if Putin ever gets removed from power (by coup or death) , one of the best things that Russians could do would be to adopt Switzerland's political system! It would seem to make it harder for a power-hungry totalitarian maniac to wreak havoc on the country (and other countries). For one thing, decisions are made BELOW the leader's level. For another, the leader is only there for one year! I LOVE this system!
Russians would never accept a system like Switzerland's, they crave a strongman, preferably wise but ruling with a strong fist. Democracy requires accepting responsibility, and it's not in the Russian nature to mea culpa.
Even if I agree with you on the basic idea of the system change, I would still warn against a sudden change, especially at the time when the Soviet Union dissolved there would have been an opportunity to gradually introduce a change, which initially looked like it, but apparently came Many people couldn't cope with it and wanted (and want more and more) to go back to the old way. If you can't make it understandable to people, make it clear, then it won't make sense to those people.
The points you raise are very important. Indeed, when carrying out institutional changes, especially when the political, economic and social systems are changed to a large extent, careful consideration and gradual advancement are needed. Sudden changes can lead to chaos, instability, and social unrest, and even spark opposition and resistance. Some cases in history, such as some countries after the collapse of the Soviet Union, do show that sudden institutional changes may bring about a series of problems. Gradual reform is usually easier to accept and adapt to because it gives people more time to understand, adapt and participate in the change process. It is also critical to ensure that people understand the need for change, its goals, and the process. Transparency, openness, and broad participation can help reduce resistance and opposition to change and increase understanding of and support for change. Therefore, it is indeed necessary to carefully consider and take appropriate measures to guide and promote institutional changes to ensure the smooth progress and successful implementation of the changes.@@xxx_phantom_xxxw_t_a9479
as democratic and peaceful reform is all but impossible here in the USA, one can hope for an eventual collapse, revolution and reform into something like the Swiss system. Direct democracy, proportional representation and plural executives would remake American politics for the better. But then I realize this is America and happy outcomes are unlikely.
Democracy does not work without a properly educated society and people who are able to do critical thinking about the information they receive. Unfortunately you a downfall in this section also in Switzerland as in all other places all over the world. I realy think people these days are naive and further away form reality than they were ever before and this is pretty dangerous for all democracies around the world.
WOW! What a Wonderful way to fairly and openly govern a country! It is Brilliant! O to live in Switzerland, and What a Beautiful country! Switzerland Great way to operate and Such An Enormous Breath of COMPLEATE fresh air compared to the ridiculous and TOTALY Scandalous way of Britain has of Conservatives! Actually to my clear thinking Switzerland Yes does have the Best way of governing for the good of the people. Well done Switzerland 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏 BRAVO. GOD BLESS SWITZERLAND! JB. Surrey. UK.
I know in my last post, I posted about military and global security. But I forgot to mention I do follow swish philosophy. There is a garden in my backyard, and I trade with all my other neighbors and promote them to grow gardens. I don’t know if we can do the rest of your philosophy but we’re gonna start there or at least I’m gonna start there. Both for carbon imprint and personal construction on taking the time to improve oneself through one own actions. This is part of the Swiss philosophy that I’m walking out.
This is a dream come true if it ever becomes the system of govt in the Philippines where power is perpetuated by the head of state by distributing all other powers to his relatives and cronies in govt. With 6 years as the Philippine president, he can do much to curb opposition and grant priority reforms to which would benefit him most in the long run. Unlike in Switzerland where one can only hold power for 1 year, a limited time frame to actually do harm in the country. With this limit, he would create a more suitable governance to fill a beautiful legacy he can be remembered by.
The video forgets to mention weird things from such a voting system leads to people voting all the time. In the US people can't even be bothered to vote once every two years so turn out would be abysmal for votes multiple times a year. In addition it ignores things like how despite (or because of) this political system women did not get the right to vote across the country until the 90s.
Women in Switzerland gained the right to vote in federal elections in 1971. The "90s" figure (actually 1990) is indeed an oddity from an ultra-conservative half-canton (AI) comprising 0.18% of the population. Overall, it doesn't change the fact that women gained the right to vote much later than neighboring countries, but accuracy never hurts to better understand weird things.
Yes, voting multiple times per year. There's usually a small booklet containing information such as the arguments from the people against as well as in favor of a change, the actual law text etc. It's possible to vote by mail. And yes, slow decision-making/changes can be one of the major drawbacks, which is probably the case for most democracies, but especially for a direct democracy.
I call Athens Democracy 1.0; [Republican] Rome Democracy 1.5; The United States of America Democracy 2.0-wait for it-Switzerland Democracy 3.0. It's not perfect, but I like it. Swiss guy here.
Switzerland is extremely democratic and extremely successful on a number of relevant and important parameters. It amazes me that more countries don't imitate Switzerland. When you study Switzerland, you also get answers to why the EU is a failure.
Yes, Switzerland's successful experience still provides a valuable reference frame for other countries, promoting deeper thinking and discussion on democracy, decentralization and consultation.
i feel like you this video either cut a little too much to keep it interesting or alternatively could have chosen the focus a little better because you kinda omitted the huge power that the voters have. laws can be overturned if a majority of the voters and cantons vote to ablish a law and the level of possible involvment could have been Highlighted better. i look forward to your next Video
I think that it's because most Americans really don't care about politics and get bored easily. So, they elect officials, then get back to their routines and not want to have to think too much about things. "We elected you to solve these problems, now go do your job!"
It ALL starts from mature, politically active and well educated population, more competent voters equals to more competent government, unfortunately I don't see many countries worldwide to be able successfully implement Swiss model... 😢
Well if it's unique, it is by definition rare, unless you're living in a world with only a few nations [ie: being the only one out of a handful doesn't make you rare, since there are so few to begin with.]
Because other countries are overpopulated and therefore the socialist trap arose. But Switzerland will also fall at some point given the demons they let in.
Swiss here. We actually copied the US system and put our own spin on it. I think over the centuries, Switzerland has just remained more true to what the US system was intended to be.
'Cultural Diverse' - well depends. They are not that open or friendly to people from other nations working there - at least in those Cantons I've been at. I was there as a IT consultant and oh my that was a sad expierience.
It has always struck me as odd that the Americans fought a war of independence to not be under the thumb of a king, and then decided to implement a system where they have a new king for 4-8years. Having the executive branch be body of multiple democratically elected stake holders seems like such an obvious solution to that.
📝 Summary of Key Points: 📌 The Swiss political system is characterized by a bicameral legislative system with the National Council representing citizens and the Council of States representing cantons. 🧐 Switzerland has a highly fragmented political landscape with multiple parties, but it operates on a consensus-based multipartism model to ensure governance and decision-making. 🚀 The Swiss Federal Council, the government, follows a unique directorial system where all seven members have equal decision-making power, promoting consensus and cultural diversity in governance. 💡 Additional Insights and Observations: 💬 The Swiss political system emphasizes direct democracy, decentralization through federalism, and cultural diversity while promoting multipartism and consensus politics. 📊 Switzerland's annual rotation of the Federal Council presidency and the distribution of seats based on cultural diversity contribute to stability and unity in governance. 📣 Concluding Remarks: The Swiss political system stands out for its innovative approach to governance, combining direct democracy, decentralization, and consensus-based decision-making. Its unique structures and practices have contributed to stability, unity, and progress in a culturally diverse society. Generated using TalkBud
In my opinion the real question is another, the government is needed when you have all the money in the world in various currencies and without having to ask for it because you are the safe of the world. I'm talking about military geography
You have to be aware that the modern Swiss constitution dates back to 1848, when the country was only months out of a (not so bloody) civil war, and was at the time one of the poorest European country. Wealth came later... much later... largely BECAUSE of the political stability, and NOT the other way around.
there are many lessons to be learned by swiss democracy, but it is by no means perfectly. most of their election system are quite antiquated even if they had some good ideas like Doppelproporz. other problems is that the voting is not legally congruent and currently switzerland is stuck in a constitutional crisis
it means an election system that produces artifacts that distort results, make people unable to vote truthfully or benefit the existing elite effectively taken the power away from the people to some extend @@2b10er
True, voting by hand (only in the rural community that is local) is very, very old, but absolutely honest and open. As far as I know, voting at the federal level must necessarily be done with a ballot paper (raising your hand is not an option). Of course you could use voting or voting machines, but here I would warn about the danger of mainpulation (which is said to have already happened abroad). Voting via the Internet is still in development/testing, maybe it will come at some point, but until the system is not secure, I prefer the “old” ballot papers. Re: counting the votes, there have never been any problems in terms of timing that these could not be announced from the evening of the end of voting (at least as far as I know). Ultimately, in my opinion, there is no need to rush into changing anything. However, I'm still trying to figure out where you see a constitutional crisis or what you mean by that.
there was a referendum that passed which stipulated that swiss people should be preferred over EU foreigners in the job market. ratifying that would break treaties with the EU, so the swiss government has just ignored it for years now@@xxx_phantom_xxxw_t_a9479
How ironic see neighboring Italy that is somehow viceversa of Swiss’s system(unitary state, no direct democracy, strong executive) having unstable executive(even though with a lot of power), polarized society and GDP capita nearly 3 times less then Switzerland. And yet Italians voted far right that proposed to transform Italy into presidential republic with even more concentration of power in one hand.
I believe this is possible because of a democratical education since children, in most countries, due to corruption this would not happen and in the brighter side rather than corruption things could not be done or issues would no be resolved due to the incapability of the politicians to reach consensus: Great for Switzerland!
Of course, Switzerland’s political system is not perfect, but its commitment to the principles of democracy, transparency and effectiveness has certainly earned it a good reputation. This good political operation provides the Swiss people with a stable, prosperous and just social environment.
I feel like we being told a very glossy superficial summary of the good things. We aren’t really being told of the disadvantages in this video. I would like to see the same video talk of all the downsides.
compared to other systems, one of the biggest disadvantage is time as it can take a lot of time until decisions are made. Also, it is very often not easy or possible to take extreme measures for anything, as many decisions are some kind of compromise. I personally believe the advantages outweigh the disadvantages
Yeah. It is SLOW! I mean... super SLOW! Do I care? No. Politics works best when it's boring, without surprises. Beyond that I don't think there are many downsides.
US expat living in Switzerland here. I think it would, but the US could not only adopt parts of it. It would not work with only our two-party system. It would not work without adopting direct democracy. I also think not electing a president would be a huge culture shock. I'm not sure people would understand or trust it enough to say "let's give it a shot".
You would have to start at the local level. In Switzerland, every municipality is governed by a coalition representing the whole population with the consensus approach. The final decisions in important questions is always by direct vote by the citizens. The politicians are only there to implement what the people want. If you decide about your local affairs yourselves, it only is logical to do the same on the regional and national level.
Since 9/11, there has been a preponderance of politicians and corporate executives who are only interested in grabbing all that they can before the ship goes down.
It is impossible to make such system in Ukraine for now, but I hope this system or it's derivetives at least to be started to build in nearest future... I understand that now because of our government we became even more evil for our citizens than paruzzian government and we need to deal with it NOW.
Because the representation rule isn't actually a written rule. In fact, there have been many years without any representatives from the italian speaking part (before Ignazio Cassis, elected in the Federal Council in 2017, the previous italian speaking politician to enter the swiss government was Flavio Cotti, who left in 1999). The usual repartition is between "German cantons" and "latin cantons", which include French speaking cantons, the italian speaking canton (Ticino) and Rumantsch speakers that are actually a small group of people mostly living in Graubünden canton. Currently there are reforming projects to increase the number of members of the government to 9 people in order to make possible a better representaton. One downside of swiss democracy is that usually reforms and big changes take a lot of time. Ususally a law needs more than 10 years to reach the final vote: because citizens can easily ask for referendums, every proposition needs to be widely supported (from literally EVERY stakeholder) to become law.
Firstly, because Romansch is NOT an official language. It is recognized as a national language, but one cannot address the Federal administration in Romansch, like you can in the 3 other languages. Then, it is just too small a minority to have a "guaranteed" seat on the federal Council... not even the Italian minority has that. Actually, no party, no canton, no minority, no gender, no religious affiliation, ... has any constitutional right to be represented in that body. The constitution of the Federal Council is actually a cooking recipe, called the "magic formula", that has proved to work over decades, with no law directing it. However, as the last Federal counsellor was elected last December, one of the candidates was indeed Romansch. Being quite young... and probably for other reasons too... he didn't get elected.... but, a he is quite brilliant, might well be in a few years!
Yeah, but I live in a federal system that encompasses 50 states like that. So it’s very nice on the ideals of democracy, but it does not very much work on the region of federal status that the US is in or European Union, Russian Federation, or suppose Chinese state. But like New Hampshire kinda has laws like that.
Switzerland counts 23 or 26 cantons (= states) and do you know how small a country it is? With the principle of subsidiarity you can also put together 50+ states of bigger size..
@@ironie69 still work in smaller system. I direct system. Federal words, intergovernmental, enders other governments that disagree with your view. The time increases fastly. For Switzerland, a very concrete culture with many roots. But a central Swiss culture very valuable but now you gotta bring those same values to a Polish person who are extreme conservatives versus a person or a very liberal. Understandably, it’s a good idea if you had to cultural bridge between them. If you don’t, it is a conflict written route that will always filibuster out of a personal prejudice.
Well, first, you should come here and see how it all works, not just democracy, but the entire country (including public transport). But now, a bold thesis, imagine what would be possible on the scale of the USA if such a small country (excluding natural resources) had such a strong currency and economy, and as a bonus a high level of population satisfaction and a corresponding life expectancy (also thanks to a balanced work/life balance ) has. Just imagine it... and then tell yourself, where there is a will, there is a way.
@@xxx_phantom_xxxw_t_a9479 I understand, I find it very agreeable. My next question is on Global power and influence. Say some people are getting hurt say oh state just north of Greece. Is the system geared to protect them as well? Because system I live is and is prepared to protect your system. So i respectfully disagree that this could be put into large scale federal system with major and minor competing interest. I wish we also of the social bond your people have in one another. I say this with heaviness and not joy of wrong proof. They way is complete social restructuring, which comes from struggle so yes there is way but I wish that on one. As no one wish October to be peaceful month
The biggest challenge for centrally governed democracies to transition to direct decentralized democracy like in Switzerland is that the majority is bought through redistribution. Centralized democracies are driven by envy and restrictions on free market forces.
As a swiss i am indeed baffled by the fact that other countries give that much power to just one person.
That's why other countries are majorly f*cked
We don't mate, the legislature has the decision power in democracies, they decide about taxes, spending, war and everything, its written in the constitution, the problem is that people thinks that it's just the president or the prime minister and because of that the legislature just wait their proposes to debate, and usually the people is so focused in the executive that the executive's party just obey this guy.
I think your system is better any way, maybe electing direct by the people like many of your cantons would be great for the presidential system if my country 😅
I know it seems they are all powerful and they sort are but they have an army of professionals with different opposing and complimentary intentions
It's not even just the power, it's the time given to wield that much power.
As an American, here the US Congress is widely regarded as corrupt and incompetent. Their approval ratings have the public have been very low for a long time. They don't care about what the American people want or think. It's painfully obvious. At this point, I'd almost prefer a stronger executive leader (President) who can just get things done w/o having to deal with the greedy fools in the legislature. Roman Republic descending into Empire? Probably.
I am from Russia and just let me cry a little bit right here 😢😢😢😢😢
And thanks to russian propaganda, a growing number of right-wing swiss and european would now prefer a corrupted dictator than to live in a democracy...
I am Ukrainian, let's shake hands.
I'll be overseeing this moment, just in case
Don't fight
Дай обниму. 🫂😢
@@youxkio 🤝
I’m Swiss. I definitely prefer the Swiss democracy model over the American one any time of the day. It took us 700 years to build it up, but there’s a reason why Switzerland is often asked to mediate between countries in conflict: we’ve had all that time to practice dialogue among ourselves.
Until we started denying our neutrality...
500 years of neutrality that Swiss ancestors have worked very hard and earned respect all over the world has sadly gone since Ukraine war broke out simply due to NATO enlargement! and I was literally shocked when I learned Swiss was also leading nation in sanctions against Russia!
@@Tsewang360 Leading? Our politicians were all hesitating at the beginning because of neutrality, but people all over the country started protesting, and since it is the sovereign people who ultimately decides, the politicians had to follow suit. They’re still being very prudent even so.
Oh, and the Ukraine war had nothing to do with NATO enlargement, that was actually a consequence of the invasion…
@pinkpaprika8410 Actually Angela Merkel, EU's gas CEO asked Trump to invade Ukraine and make it part of the EU because they sold russian gas for 10 times the price Putin asked them, driving the entire european continent to bankruptcy. Trump refused (now you know why they removed him). At that time Hunter biden became CEO of Ukraine war and by the time Ukraine will be part of the UE, Hunter will become one of the richest man in the world, selling energy to EU and to USA because despite Trump was able to make USA gas independent, with the North Pipeline, Biden undid that just to make US dependent from his son. We are in the middle of a medieval era because the media sucked people's mind and made them vote the wrong way for decades
And imagine seeing your politicians using public transport on a daily basis. I walked past Ueli Maurer and Simonetta Sommaruga at Bern mainstation countless times when commuting to work.
That is also a great way that politicians keep caring about public transport. In many countries they might say "public transport is important" but what they mean is "public transport for the poor is important". Noone with money uses it.
@@Utoko "A developed country is not a place where the poor have cars. It's where the rich use public transportation." Some Mayor from Colombia
@@beccyvc5743 wise words...
The same thing happens to me. Sommaruga was often using the same bus line and I've seen her several times.
@@beccyvc5743Aren't your politician scared of assassination?
Pretty spot on, but leaves out some quite important parts. Per example that most decisions made by the government can be overturned be by the population through a popular referendum. Initiatives can not only come from parliament or the government, but from the people. The Federal Chancellery then has to ensure the correct procedure for popular initiatives, from the launch of an initiative to the referendum. Or any amendment to the Constitution by Parliament is subject to a mandatory referendum, i.e. it must be put to a popular vote.
And that leads to a situation where the government doesn’t even propose laws that they know would be overturned by a referendum, and the informal, but pretty crucial ‘Vernehmlassungsverfahren’.
Of course the other side of the coin is that this only works if the Swiss people are reasonable and do not block painful, but necessary legislation, eg tax raises or cuts in the pension scheme.
@@venanziadorromatagni1641 I just tried to point out that the video lacks some crucial information. Assessing the efficiency of this system would be a separate issue altogether. :)
@@venanziadorromatagni1641 you mean raise taxes for companies that's what we should do , also no cuts for pensions since they told us since the 2000's that we won't have money past 2005 , we are 2024 have more than a year of reserves. but hey don't touch the money banks are working with, that money can't be touched because we invested it mimimimi. its more convenient to just raise the working age etc...
@@SWUnrealdude the retirement age was set at 65 when people were expected to live until like 69 or so... now people live until 89. That means everybody is retired for 24 years instead of 4... thats 6x as long.. while also having fewer young people working. How is that math supposed to make any sense?
I don't think you can summarize a WHOLE SYSTEM OF OGVERNMENT in just 6 minutes. There's bound to be details left out. No use nit picking. The intent of the video is just to show the MAJOR differences of what makes the Swiss system very different than most.
I once was in Berne to get a Visa. I stopped by the Swiss Capitol, to have a quick glance, the square was almost empty. Suddenly a person exits alone from the building. As he came closer I realised it was Ueli Maurer, the then President of Switzerland, Alone. He passed by me about 30m distance, then a random guy in a Suit approached him, they talked for 30s then the President went into a Restaurant.
I was in DC a year before, the difference is flaberghastingnggngn
The Swiss president is probably the only one in the world who can go to work by tram instead of requiring a whole motorcade or a palace. 😊
@@pinkpaprika8410 Members of the Swiss Federal Council, as well as certain other high-ranking officials in the Swiss government, are entitled to receive a General Abonnement (GA), also known as a Swiss Travel Pass. The GA allows unlimited travel on the Swiss Travel System network, which includes most trains, buses, and boats across Switzerland. And yes: I also had a federal counsil in front of me, when I was in Berne a while ago, in the supermarket buying some oranges...
I spotted many times the president in the train, alone like anybody else
Do something to bring the US system to the US. Switzerland is the only country with a sane system, the rest are still into "authoriy infuses people with superhuman qualities and the right to special privileges. The French Revolutiob chopped the head of the King but the myth that those in power are special persist in all other countries.
Switzerland is one of the best countries in Europe
Didn't get flattened in WW1 nor WW2, then afterwards got to sit back lending out that Nazi gold to make max bank and have been living the high life off suffering of Jews and others ever since.
in the world. and i'm not even swiss. but i'd like to move in the future there, that country is incredible.
@@mostri28-we have enough immigrants so please only come as a tourist thanks you!
Is the best country of the world
@@harry-matakios1344 klassische schwizer
I'd like to see a followup video about how power is balanced between the central government and the cantons. I hear a lot about how Switzerland lets its constituent regions govern themselves in a way that hasn't been possible in America since Senators stopped being appointed by the individual states as a check against the encroachment of federal power. In a world where massive nation states are full of regions who want to break away for political, financial, cultural, ethnic, and religious reasons, it seems we may all have something to learn from the Swiss model.
As you said, the local governments are not appointed by the central one. This is the key. The canton's people choose their gov.
A couple of useful details: after WWII, the Swiss Constitution was amended to ensure that power should never become the monopoly of a single political party, or be unduly influenced by some powerful corporation or lobby.
Also, the president being co-opted among the members of the Federal Council ensures that we don’t get a president unfit for the job.
The two-party system is one of the major weaknesses for the US as it furthers partisanship instead of consensus. How do we overcome that trap? It's not like its in the constitution but the major parties have incentive to maintain it. The other weakness is that too much power is vested in the President, no matter which party the office holder is from. Committing acts of war should never be one person's decision. Too many other things also get done by executive order instead of carefully deliberated law. Congress should assert their authority as a counterweight (checks and balances - The Executive Branch is there to faithfully EXECUTE the laws passed by Congress, not to establish policy.), but has a hard time doing that in the current state of dysfunction.
Wrong. It's a you weakness. If you truly believe you can get a 3rd party or more.
Waging war is NOT the President's decision. That power is reserved for Congress.
@@genius11433 LOL. I know. We don't declare war anymore. Every President since FDR has authorized "limited" military action, which amount to acts of war without asking Congress first. They only ask once the run out of money to continue and have never been told "no".
Electoral reform to proportional representation or Instant Runoff Voting
Waging (declaring) war is Congress's job, not the President. The President is the leader of the armed forces and the military can only be used after Congress approves declaring war.
In reality since WWII, it's been admittedly different but it's Congress that holds the purse strings and still has a say who America fights.
You did a great job at explaining our system, compliment. It was weird having to learn how other democracies worked when I was a child. I always asumed that the great advantage of a democracy is the willingness to compromise.
I'm Swiss and lived in my home country as well as in various places abroad in Asia. For all my love-hate relationship I have with Switzerland, there is no denying that its political system and it's integration into the culture is the best on earth. No need to be humble here.
I've loved the Swiss system for many years, and wish we had such a balanced and equal system in the U.S. I do think in this video you might have mentioned the militia congress (keeping their day jobs) and more discussion around the referendum and initiative, and even the canton decentralization of policy (setting tax rates, etc...). To me the Swiss have the closest to perfect government on the planet, and I'm so envious.
You are 100% correct! But do you know that our Constitutions was largely inspired by the US one? So much so, that our two countries were called sister republics... but the US have unfortunately lost their way... It is no longer a government of the people by the people!
As a Swiss citizen, I am enthusiastic about our political system❤. The difficulty, however, is that we often have to decide against our personal advantage when voting. In other words, we have to decide in a way that benefits Switzerland as a whole and not just me personally. In this respect, it takes a certain amount of common sense to see the country as a whole and not just me.
The Swiss people demonstrates, at (almost) every vote (and that's about 12 times a year), a GREAT degree of political maturity!
The collegial system of the Federal Council can lead to some pretty funny situations. For example, there is a political talk show for every initiative, where representatives of as many interest groups as possible debate with each other. Half a year ago, when it came to an initiative for more climate protection, the right-wing party launched a populist campaign in which, among other things, climate change was trivialised and the demands were presented differently. Both a representative of the Federal Council and a representative of the SVP (right-wing party) were on the talk show. The representative of the Federal Council was also from the SVP, but took the principle of collegiality very seriously. The presenter thought it was a very good idea to ask the Federal Councillor whether every statement made by the SVP representative was correct. This went on for the whole programme and was really funny to watch. The looks between the two got better and better. xd
This somewhat answers my question as to how they deal with misinformation and what otherwise looks like a perfect system. Open well moderated debate getting the most attention looks like a good way to minimize disinformation.
@@glike2whenever they have a referendum both sides will gather their main pros and cons and put that in a brochure which will then be automatically sent to all households.
I like the idea of a system of government that forces political parties to agree and prevents the concentration of power in one person or one side of politics. It would be nice if we had that in Australia but are politicians are too concerned with their or the parties interests to allow such a system to be adopted. It would mean that those in government would have to look after the interests of the people rather than themselves.
Not perfect, but the best system of this world
Nothing can really be so perfect that it couldn't be improved, and that certainly applies to us too. But in relation to other countries, we are probably a touch ahead.
I like the video However what I find the most important missing info is that many of the described peculiarities (multiparty government, rotating presidency, to some extent the representation of linguistic regions in the executive branch) are not law but mere convention among political parties. With mostly the same laws on the governmental organisation, Switzerland had a single party occupying the majority of parliament and all of the executive for decades during the 19th century. It's the adoption of proportional elections for the national council (instead of majority elections), popular initiatives on the constitutional level and facultative popular referenda on the level of acts that forced all parties to share power without having explicit rules requiring this.
well put. thank you. 😊
Excellent video 👍 Thank you 💜
Added to you good explainer, is the fact that as a ( con) federation, power is decentralised. Many important decisions are taken at Canton level or even municipality
Great information.
The flag is itself a big plus.
er... what about the 4 referenda every quarter where the Swiss voters are asked questions about matters of State (proposed by those who question Swiss Law and which have individually gained >100k signatures supporting that question). (I paraphrase).
Switzerland is a dictator's nightmare. While most of the leaders fight for power, this country ensure the leader lock it's power
now do the banks
Representative democracy has run its course, we either bring the Swiss system, which is a rational improvement of the US Constitution or most representative will continue the slide towards Weimar 2.0
Switzerland has also Direct Democracy alongside Representative Politicians.
My dream is to implement this system in my country. I hope I’m successful
The system exists since 1848...I mean I wish you the best of luck but politicians always want more power even the ones who say they don't.
I am not that old with 30yo yet I've read multiple times how foreign politicians claimed they want direct democracy.
But they only say that as long as they are the weaker opposition party, once they are in power it's not a good idea to give the people more power...
I missed the fact, that the Swiss citizens (not the residents who are not citizens) are voting 4 times per year to approve and/or disapprove the governments work. This is the reason, that Switzerland is not a member of the evil EU, the population is not for that. NB: I wish, that more countries would have this system of direct democracy and take away the power of some single persons like i.e. the USA.
I live in Switzerland and it’s great
In some EU members, city halls promote local surveys about the problems being assessed and ask the population which is a priority for the short and long-term
Yes. This approach is often seen as a form of democratic participation that can increase communication and interaction between the government and the people and ensure that policy formulation is closer to public opinion.
And then they trash the result
Nope, they actually implement it. Why do you see old European cities well-maintained and their citizens content?@@spezportfolio
Before I came to Switzerland I knew it’s a neutral country and I must say it’s good and hope it will continue as it is. I guess it’s the best political system here in Europe, thankful I live here.
Didn't they upload this a year ago or so?
Well that's a nice thought...
My question is how we could implement something like this in the United States?
Tow for each region the northwest,South, plains notheast great lakes hawai Alaska
Well...After Napoleon the swiss actually adapted a constitution that was almost a 1 to 1 copy of the US...
Didn't work, so we had a civil war.
...I don't say you guys should have a civil war but it worked here.
I think the will, the belief in wanting to implement it is the most important step. You hear from time to time, "That's not possible for us...", but I'm convinced that it's possible, including the votes, after all, the elections are also possible.
@@Slithermotion hemmm.... if the present Swiss Constitution is indeed much inspired by the US one (but no 1 to 1 copy... no presidential function for instance...), its first version dates from 1848, the year AFTER the 1847 Sonderbund civil war.
@@st-ex8506 The present constitution isn‘tmuch inspired by the US but the constitution after restauration of the confederacy up until the civil war.
Meaning after the helvetic republic and before 1848.
Napolean invaded in 1799 and the origin of the current goverment structure are from 1848.
My reference is in the timeline of that 50 years.
I'm very proud of my country ! Vive la Suisse !
Best democratic system for me (that I'm aware of). Indeed it is baffling that every country in the world feels compelled to have ONE head of state.
3:46 this is what is known here in switzerland as Primus inter pares, First among equals.
Direct Democracy IS the best political system on earth! And Switzerland has plenty of it!
Wow. That is like what the Austrlian Capital Territory, and the state of Tasmania, sought to do with the Hare-Clarke system.
Yeah, its awesome! I wish Australia had that system.
NZer here - this looks like an *excellent* system!
Very pragmatic - distributed power and decision-making rather than having all power in one person's hands (like *Russia*).
Heck - if Putin ever gets removed from power (by coup or death) , one of the best things that Russians could do would be to adopt Switzerland's political system!
It would seem to make it harder for a power-hungry totalitarian maniac to wreak havoc on the country (and other countries).
For one thing, decisions are made BELOW the leader's level.
For another, the leader is only there for one year!
I LOVE this system!
Russians would never accept a system like Switzerland's, they crave a strongman, preferably wise but ruling with a strong fist. Democracy requires accepting responsibility, and it's not in the Russian nature to mea culpa.
Even if I agree with you on the basic idea of the system change, I would still warn against a sudden change, especially at the time when the Soviet Union dissolved there would have been an opportunity to gradually introduce a change, which initially looked like it, but apparently came Many people couldn't cope with it and wanted (and want more and more) to go back to the old way. If you can't make it understandable to people, make it clear, then it won't make sense to those people.
The points you raise are very important. Indeed, when carrying out institutional changes, especially when the political, economic and social systems are changed to a large extent, careful consideration and gradual advancement are needed. Sudden changes can lead to chaos, instability, and social unrest, and even spark opposition and resistance. Some cases in history, such as some countries after the collapse of the Soviet Union, do show that sudden institutional changes may bring about a series of problems. Gradual reform is usually easier to accept and adapt to because it gives people more time to understand, adapt and participate in the change process. It is also critical to ensure that people understand the need for change, its goals, and the process. Transparency, openness, and broad participation can help reduce resistance and opposition to change and increase understanding of and support for change. Therefore, it is indeed necessary to carefully consider and take appropriate measures to guide and promote institutional changes to ensure the smooth progress and successful implementation of the changes.@@xxx_phantom_xxxw_t_a9479
as democratic and peaceful reform is all but impossible here in the USA, one can hope for an eventual collapse, revolution and reform into something like the Swiss system. Direct democracy, proportional representation and plural executives would remake American politics for the better. But then I realize this is America and happy outcomes are unlikely.
Somehow this statement makes me sad, but the past and the prospects for the next few years make it clear why you will unfortunately be right.
Democracy does not work without a properly educated society and people who are able to do critical thinking about the information they receive. Unfortunately you a downfall in this section also in Switzerland as in all other places all over the world. I realy think people these days are naive and further away form reality than they were ever before and this is pretty dangerous for all democracies around the world.
WOW! What a Wonderful way to fairly and openly govern a country! It is Brilliant!
O to live in Switzerland, and What a Beautiful country!
Switzerland Great way to operate and Such An Enormous
Breath of COMPLEATE fresh air compared to the ridiculous and TOTALY Scandalous way of Britain has of Conservatives!
Actually to my clear thinking Switzerland Yes does have the Best way of governing for the good of the people.
Well done Switzerland 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
BRAVO.
GOD BLESS SWITZERLAND!
JB. Surrey. UK.
Great video!
But I don't believe that "eternal" be the right word in this case-more like *perpetual* .
I know in my last post, I posted about military and global security. But I forgot to mention I do follow swish philosophy. There is a garden in my backyard, and I trade with all my other neighbors and promote them to grow gardens. I don’t know if we can do the rest of your philosophy but we’re gonna start there or at least I’m gonna start there. Both for carbon imprint and personal construction on taking the time to improve oneself through one own actions. This is part of the Swiss philosophy that I’m walking out.
*hits pipe*
You know what?
Seven presidents.
Switzerland is guided by the philosophy of freedom.
I love this idea. Yet in America I wish it was possible but we can’t even agree on 99% of anything
Hey Visual Politik, can you share this video's soundtrack? Sounds very cool.
I like this system. I live in Canada, where the Senate isn't elected, it's appointed by the PM.
Wish we'd have this system in the UK.
This is a dream come true if it ever becomes the system of govt in the Philippines where power is perpetuated by the head of state by distributing all other powers to his relatives and cronies in govt. With 6 years as the Philippine president, he can do much to curb opposition and grant priority reforms to which would benefit him most in the long run. Unlike in Switzerland where one can only hold power for 1 year, a limited time frame to actually do harm in the country. With this limit, he would create a more suitable governance to fill a beautiful legacy he can be remembered by.
Surely there must be issues that create intrackability.
If it is unique… it’s rare ;)
i am a swiss and love this video
Isn’t this a reupload?
We can vote to that
@@rondamon4408 on patreon?
The video forgets to mention weird things from such a voting system leads to people voting all the time. In the US people can't even be bothered to vote once every two years so turn out would be abysmal for votes multiple times a year. In addition it ignores things like how despite (or because of) this political system women did not get the right to vote across the country until the 90s.
Women in Switzerland gained the right to vote in federal elections in 1971. The "90s" figure (actually 1990) is indeed an oddity from an ultra-conservative half-canton (AI) comprising 0.18% of the population. Overall, it doesn't change the fact that women gained the right to vote much later than neighboring countries, but accuracy never hurts to better understand weird things.
Switzerland votes by mail. Relatively hassle free
Yes, voting multiple times per year. There's usually a small booklet containing information such as the arguments from the people against as well as in favor of a change, the actual law text etc. It's possible to vote by mail. And yes, slow decision-making/changes can be one of the major drawbacks, which is probably the case for most democracies, but especially for a direct democracy.
Yeah. In Switzerland everyone votes by mail. Barely an issue.
The video thumbnail looked like Ace Ventura.
Pretty complex but it seems to work. Who are we to pick holes in it if it works?
best times for the countries to adopt this system.
I call Athens Democracy 1.0; [Republican] Rome Democracy 1.5; The United States of America Democracy 2.0-wait for it-Switzerland Democracy 3.0. It's not perfect, but I like it. Swiss guy here.
Switzerland is extremely democratic and extremely successful on a number of relevant and important parameters. It amazes me that more countries don't imitate Switzerland. When you study Switzerland, you also get answers to why the EU is a failure.
Yes, Switzerland's successful experience still provides a valuable reference frame for other countries, promoting deeper thinking and discussion on democracy, decentralization and consultation.
Uruguay used to copy their presidential council model.
i feel like you this video either cut a little too much to keep it interesting or alternatively could have chosen the focus a little better because you kinda omitted the huge power that the voters have. laws can be overturned if a majority of the voters and cantons vote to ablish a law and the level of possible involvment could have been Highlighted better.
i look forward to your next Video
Indeed, the summary was very brief and didnt cover all crucial components.
I like their knives. :)
i must thank you as a swiss
I think that it's because most Americans really don't care about politics and get bored easily.
So, they elect officials, then get back to their routines and not want to have to think too much about things.
"We elected you to solve these problems, now go do your job!"
Cool 👍
It ALL starts from mature, politically active and well educated population, more competent voters equals to more competent government, unfortunately I don't see many countries worldwide to be able successfully implement Swiss model... 😢
very very true!
Well if it's unique, it is by definition rare, unless you're living in a world with only a few nations [ie: being the only one out of a handful doesn't make you rare, since there are so few to begin with.]
actually Eu has some similarities, rotating countries at the presidency , some representation assure in various committees and so on ..
Swiss have by far the best system. It saddens me that no other country has tried to copy it.
Because other countries are overpopulated and therefore the socialist trap arose. But Switzerland will also fall at some point given the demons they let in.
Swiss here.
We actually copied the US system and put our own spin on it.
I think over the centuries, Switzerland has just remained more true to what the US system was intended to be.
I only see a lot of old people.
All american people love Switzerland 🙏🏻🇺🇸🇨🇭 All swiss people love US 🙏🏻🙏🏻🇨🇭🇺🇸
It appears this video is just a remake
'Cultural Diverse' - well depends. They are not that open or friendly to people from other nations working there - at least in those Cantons I've been at. I was there as a IT consultant and oh my that was a sad expierience.
It has always struck me as odd that the Americans fought a war of independence to not be under the thumb of a king, and then decided to implement a system where they have a new king for 4-8years. Having the executive branch be body of multiple democratically elected stake holders seems like such an obvious solution to that.
I'm swiss
unique *AND* rare?????
📝 Summary of Key Points:
📌 The Swiss political system is characterized by a bicameral legislative system with the National Council representing citizens and the Council of States representing cantons.
🧐 Switzerland has a highly fragmented political landscape with multiple parties, but it operates on a consensus-based multipartism model to ensure governance and decision-making.
🚀 The Swiss Federal Council, the government, follows a unique directorial system where all seven members have equal decision-making power, promoting consensus and cultural diversity in governance.
💡 Additional Insights and Observations:
💬 The Swiss political system emphasizes direct democracy, decentralization through federalism, and cultural diversity while promoting multipartism and consensus politics.
📊 Switzerland's annual rotation of the Federal Council presidency and the distribution of seats based on cultural diversity contribute to stability and unity in governance.
📣 Concluding Remarks:
The Swiss political system stands out for its innovative approach to governance, combining direct democracy, decentralization, and consensus-based decision-making. Its unique structures and practices have contributed to stability, unity, and progress in a culturally diverse society.
Generated using TalkBud
very short video ??
election season is non stop. Imagine if US was like this.
In my opinion the real question is another, the government is needed when you have all the money in the world in various currencies and without having to ask for it because you are the safe of the world. I'm talking about military geography
You have to be aware that the modern Swiss constitution dates back to 1848, when the country was only months out of a (not so bloody) civil war, and was at the time one of the poorest European country. Wealth came later... much later... largely BECAUSE of the political stability, and NOT the other way around.
How is that black obsidian bracelet working out for you, chap!? 🛵🇨🇳
You mean….. fairly
there are many lessons to be learned by swiss democracy, but it is by no means perfectly. most of their election system are quite antiquated even if they had some good ideas like Doppelproporz. other problems is that the voting is not legally congruent and currently switzerland is stuck in a constitutional crisis
What ever antiquated means. Never change a running system.
it means an election system that produces artifacts that distort results, make people unable to vote truthfully or benefit the existing elite effectively taken the power away from the people to some extend @@2b10er
True, voting by hand (only in the rural community that is local) is very, very old, but absolutely honest and open. As far as I know, voting at the federal level must necessarily be done with a ballot paper (raising your hand is not an option). Of course you could use voting or voting machines, but here I would warn about the danger of mainpulation (which is said to have already happened abroad). Voting via the Internet is still in development/testing, maybe it will come at some point, but until the system is not secure, I prefer the “old” ballot papers.
Re: counting the votes, there have never been any problems in terms of timing that these could not be announced from the evening of the end of voting (at least as far as I know).
Ultimately, in my opinion, there is no need to rush into changing anything.
However, I'm still trying to figure out where you see a constitutional crisis or what you mean by that.
there was a referendum that passed which stipulated that swiss people should be preferred over EU foreigners in the job market. ratifying that would break treaties with the EU, so the swiss government has just ignored it for years now@@xxx_phantom_xxxw_t_a9479
How ironic see neighboring Italy that is somehow viceversa of Swiss’s system(unitary state, no direct democracy, strong executive) having unstable executive(even though with a lot of power), polarized society and GDP capita nearly 3 times less then Switzerland. And yet Italians voted far right that proposed to transform Italy into presidential republic with even more concentration of power in one hand.
I believe this is possible because of a democratical education since children, in most countries, due to corruption this would not happen and in the brighter side rather than corruption things could not be done or issues would no be resolved due to the incapability of the politicians to reach consensus: Great for Switzerland!
Of course, Switzerland’s political system is not perfect, but its commitment to the principles of democracy, transparency and effectiveness has certainly earned it a good reputation. This good political operation provides the Swiss people with a stable, prosperous and just social environment.
Wish they would do something about the graffiti. You see it everywhere along the railway. Even in the wealthy areas. Often in the old towns.
@@SMILYSUNFLOWER All over. Basel, Luzern, Bern, Ticino, Graubunden, Zurich, Montreux, Interlaken. Jungfrau.
Um…Wake up call! Switzerland based its system of government explicitly on the U.S. Constitution.
I feel like we being told a very glossy superficial summary of the good things. We aren’t really being told of the disadvantages in this video. I would like to see the same video talk of all the downsides.
compared to other systems, one of the biggest disadvantage is time as it can take a lot of time until decisions are made. Also, it is very often not easy or possible to take extreme measures for anything, as many decisions are some kind of compromise. I personally believe the advantages outweigh the disadvantages
Yeah. It is SLOW! I mean... super SLOW!
Do I care? No. Politics works best when it's boring, without surprises.
Beyond that I don't think there are many downsides.
“So many parties” when you’re talking about 4… Clearly a Brit talking there 😄😛
There ARE many more than 4 parties, not in the government (yet), but in the parliament.
I admire Switzerland for many reasons. But, I am not sure if the Swiss system would work in the USA.
US expat living in Switzerland here.
I think it would, but the US could not only adopt parts of it. It would not work with only our two-party system. It would not work without adopting direct democracy. I also think not electing a president would be a huge culture shock. I'm not sure people would understand or trust it enough to say "let's give it a shot".
You would have to start at the local level. In Switzerland, every municipality is governed by a coalition representing the whole population with the consensus approach. The final decisions in important questions is always by direct vote by the citizens. The politicians are only there to implement what the people want. If you decide about your local affairs yourselves, it only is logical to do the same on the regional and national level.
That would never work in the US. Our political parties are too greedy
Since 9/11, there has been a preponderance of politicians and corporate executives who are only interested in grabbing all that they can before the ship goes down.
It is impossible to make such system in Ukraine for now, but I hope this system or it's derivetives at least to be started to build in nearest future... I understand that now because of our government we became even more evil for our citizens than paruzzian government and we need to deal with it NOW.
Why doesn't the Romansh speaking area(s) get a representative on the Federal Council?
Because the representation rule isn't actually a written rule. In fact, there have been many years without any representatives from the italian speaking part (before Ignazio Cassis, elected in the Federal Council in 2017, the previous italian speaking politician to enter the swiss government was Flavio Cotti, who left in 1999). The usual repartition is between "German cantons" and "latin cantons", which include French speaking cantons, the italian speaking canton (Ticino) and Rumantsch speakers that are actually a small group of people mostly living in Graubünden canton. Currently there are reforming projects to increase the number of members of the government to 9 people in order to make possible a better representaton. One downside of swiss democracy is that usually reforms and big changes take a lot of time. Ususally a law needs more than 10 years to reach the final vote: because citizens can easily ask for referendums, every proposition needs to be widely supported (from literally EVERY stakeholder) to become law.
Firstly, because Romansch is NOT an official language. It is recognized as a national language, but one cannot address the Federal administration in Romansch, like you can in the 3 other languages.
Then, it is just too small a minority to have a "guaranteed" seat on the federal Council... not even the Italian minority has that. Actually, no party, no canton, no minority, no gender, no religious affiliation, ... has any constitutional right to be represented in that body. The constitution of the Federal Council is actually a cooking recipe, called the "magic formula", that has proved to work over decades, with no law directing it.
However, as the last Federal counsellor was elected last December, one of the candidates was indeed Romansch. Being quite young... and probably for other reasons too... he didn't get elected.... but, a he is quite brilliant, might well be in a few years!
Yeah, but I live in a federal system that encompasses 50 states like that. So it’s very nice on the ideals of democracy, but it does not very much work on the region of federal status that the US is in or European Union, Russian Federation, or suppose Chinese state. But like New Hampshire kinda has laws like that.
Switzerland counts 23 or 26 cantons (= states) and do you know how small a country it is? With the principle of subsidiarity you can also put together 50+ states of bigger size..
@@ironie69 still work in smaller system. I direct system. Federal words, intergovernmental, enders other governments that disagree with your view. The time increases fastly. For Switzerland, a very concrete culture with many roots. But a central Swiss culture very valuable but now you gotta bring those same values to a Polish person who are extreme conservatives versus a person or a very liberal. Understandably, it’s a good idea if you had to cultural bridge between them. If you don’t, it is a conflict written route that will always filibuster out of a personal prejudice.
Well, first, you should come here and see how it all works, not just democracy, but the entire country (including public transport).
But now, a bold thesis, imagine what would be possible on the scale of the USA if such a small country (excluding natural resources) had such a strong currency and economy, and as a bonus a high level of population satisfaction and a corresponding life expectancy (also thanks to a balanced work/life balance ) has. Just imagine it... and then tell yourself, where there is a will, there is a way.
@@xxx_phantom_xxxw_t_a9479 I understand, I find it very agreeable. My next question is on Global power and influence. Say some people are getting hurt say oh state just north of Greece. Is the system geared to protect them as well? Because system I live is and is prepared to protect your system. So i respectfully disagree that this could be put into large scale federal system with major and minor competing interest. I wish we also of the social bond your people have in one another. I say this with heaviness and not joy of wrong proof. They way is complete social restructuring, which comes from struggle so yes there is way but I wish that on one. As no one wish October to be peaceful month
@@nathanielserra874 I dont understand what the defense capabilities have to do with it, can you elaborate?
The biggest challenge for centrally governed democracies to transition to direct decentralized democracy like in Switzerland is that the majority is bought through redistribution. Centralized democracies are driven by envy and restrictions on free market forces.