Description
Switzerland is a landlocked country in western Europe with close to eight million inhabitants.
Discussion
Political Institutions
Switzerland is a federation with three levels:
- a confederation (national)
- 26 cantons (provincial)
- over 2,000 communes (local).
These three levels each have powers according to subsidiarity. For example, if a commune does not have jurisdiction to make laws on a particular matter, the people of that commune must appeal to the canton or nation to make the law.
Switzerland and Live and Let Live
At the commune level, individuals in local communities have control over the following matters:
- municipal taxation
- social welfare programs
- pre-school and primary education
- local policing
- power utilities
- waste management, and
- zoning, infrastructure and development.
The exact matters over which a commune has control varies between cantons.
Compared to most other nations, including the United States, Switzerland’s politics is largely decentralized.
The federal government in Switzerland has relatively limited legal authority to force individuals in local communities how to act.
The emphasis on local communities facilitates a healthy market of ideas and solutions. The systems in one local community can be vastly different to a neighbouring community, allowing people flexibility on where they live, work, study and carry out leisure with potentially minimal disruption.
In addition to a legal systems largely aligned with the Legal Principle, Switzerland’s foreign policy[foreign-policy] is remarkably non-violent. The nation has not engaged in violence in any international conflict since the fall of Napoleonic empire in 1815.
On the domestic level, Switzerland’s last war was a civil war in 1847 which was resolved within one month.
Switzerland was one of the two models which inspired the political framework of Liberland. It is also where the free city project of Soubey is based.
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Further Resources
- Federal Constitution of the Swiss Confederation: https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/1999/404/en.