Federal Council of Switzerland

“ On the other hand, all must be subject to a common power in those matters which concern the whole body of members collectively. Switzerland represents the happy outcome of the first attempt at such a federal union made by men of Teutonic descent. Complete independence in local affairs combined with adequate representation in the Federal Council has effected such an intense cohesion of interests throughout the nation as no centralized government, however cunningly devised, would ever have secured. The constitutional history of the confederation is a study in federalism. ”

“ Republican Switzerland has carefully sought to protect herself against this form of government. The Swiss Constitution of 1874 reposes ultimately on the ancient autonomy of the Cantons. Each Canton has one representative in the Federal Executive Council. The members of this Council are elected for three years by the Federal Assembly, and from among their own number they choose the President of the Confederation, who serves for one year only—a provision probably borrowed from the first American Constitution. ”

“ It protects the external safety, and the independence and neutrality of Switzerland. It protects the internal safety of the Confederation, and the maintenance of its peace and order. In cases of urgency, and when the Federal Assembly is not in session, the Federal Council shall have authority to raise the necessary troops and employ them, with the reservation that it shall immediately call the Federal Assembly together, if the number of men called out shall exceed two thousand, or if they remain in arms more than three weeks. ”

“ In no canton in Switzerland is there more than one legislative body: in none is there a senate. The cities of Switzerland have no mayor, the cantons have no governor, and, if the title be used in the American sense, the republic has no President. Instead of the usual single executive head, the Swiss employ an executive council. Hence, in every canton a deadlock in legislation is impossible, the way is open for all law demanded by a majority, and neither in canton nor Confederation is one-man power known. ”

“ In the National Council and the Council of States decisions are taken by the absolute majority of the members casting a vote.
Article 89 [Federal Assembly Legislation] (1) Federal laws and federal decrees must be approved by both Councils. (2) Federal laws and generally binding federal decrees must be submitted to the people for approval or rejection if 50,000 Swiss citizens entitled to vote or eight Cantons so demand. (3) Paragraph (2) shall be applicable also to international treaties which: a) are of unspecified duration and cannot be denounced ”

“ The general government has the power to do the international business, but Switzerland keeps out of European politics. It would have little or no power as an offensive nation with its three million of people, and so it contents itself with furnishing scenery, wine, watches, music-boxes and good air to the inhabitants of other countries who are able to buy. The federal government consists of a congress composed of representatives from the cantons made up like our Senate and House. ”

“ Jobbery and extravagance are unknown, and politics, as there is no money in it, has ceased to be a trade. The men elected to office are taken from the ranks of the citizens, and are chosen because of their fitness for the work. The people take an intelligent interest in every kind of local and federal legislation, and have a full sense of their political responsibility. The mass of useless or evil laws which legislatures in other countries are constantly passing with little consideration, and which have constantly to be repealed, are in Switzerland not passed at all. ”

“ National Council - percent of vote by party - SVP 26.6%, SPS 23.3%, FDP 17.3%, CVP 14.4%, Greens 7.4%, other small parties all under 5%; seats by party - SVP 55, SPS 54, FDP 36, CVP 28, Green Party 13, other small parties 14 Judicial branch: Federal Supreme Court (judges elected for six-year terms by the Federal Assembly) Political parties and leaders: Green Party (Grune Partei der Schweiz or Grune, Parti Ecologiste Suisse or Les Verts, Partito Ecologista Svizzero or I Verdi, Partida Ecologica Svizra or La Verda) [Ruth GENNER] ”

“ By it any voter or voters may propose new legislation, and if the requisite number of voters can be got to support the proposal by signing the formal petition in its favour, the matter must be put to the popular vote. The number of signatures necessary is five thousand in the case of cantonal legislation, and fifty thousand in Federal matters. The people have thus always the power to bring on the discussion of any matter, however much the Council, or the legislators may object. ”

“ Yet it survived from 1815 to 1848, when, taking advantage of new troubles in Europe, the Swiss settled their system of government anew, and shaped a Federal constitution which exists to this day.
49Switzerland now is divided into twenty-two cantons, self-governing as far as their local affairs are concerned, but united into a Federation for national purposes. The system of government is purely democratic and marked by a Republican austerity. All citizens are equal. Most offices are elective. ”

“ In order to make the proceedings of the day more intelligible, I must first briefly sketch certain features of this little democracy, which it possesses in common with three other mountain Cantons,—the primitive forms which the republican principle assumed in Switzerland. In the first place the government is only representative so far as is required for its permanent, practical operation. The highest power in the land is the Landsgemeinde, or General Assembly of the People, by whom the members of the Executive Council are elected, and who alone can change, adopt, or abolish any law. ”

“ We have seen how a tiny confederation of three petty states has grown into a league of eight, and then of thirteen [Pg 421] independent districts, and how this has developed into the federal state of twenty-two cantons of our own day. Lastly, some of the institutions of the country, notably the Initiative and the Referendum, are well-nigh unique of their kind, and certainly are of the greatest interest to the student of political history and development; whilst Switzerland's noble efforts for the amelioration and benefit of mankind at large cannot but command our admiration. ”

“ There would be no majority to vote black white under a false sense of honor for the purpose of shielding a criminal of its own party. The election of the Executive by the Legislature is the natural application of the elective principle of government. Nor can it be said to be wholly novel. It has been tried in Switzerland, though it is true that Switzerland being not merely a nation with a federal structure like the United States, but a union of really different elements, German, French, and Italian, her case is peculiar, and her example must be used with caution. ”

“ Switzerland affords perhaps the best type of a democratic system of local authorities. The central authority is the canton, not the federation. The interference of the federal authority is confined to the imposition of certain broad Educational influence of federal constitution. principles by the constitution, to the indirect influence exerted by the examination of recruits for the national army, and to financial grants for technical instruction, its most important direct educational work being the support of the technological university at Zurich. ”

“ In Switzerland, in this generation, direct legislation has in many respects been established for the federal government, while in so large a canton as Zurich, with nearly 340,000 inhabitants, it has also been made applicable to every proposed cantonal law, decree, and order,—the citizens of that canton themselves disposing by vote of all questions of taxation, public finance, executive acts, state employment, corporation grants, public works, and similar operations of government commonly, even in republican states, left to legislators and other officials. ”

“ Some of these evils are connected with political problems that are vexing our epoch in every state and country where constitutional government and a liberal suffrage prevail. Switzerland, with a government so adequate for a simple people and small country, appears to have firmly resisted the impact of these political ills. Service in the federal legislature is accepted from a sense of patriotic duty; neither emolument nor self-aggrandizement being an element of its membership worthy of consideration. ”

“ On the 10th of December, 1803, Swiss delegates were received in the office of foreign affairs at Paris, to hear a note of Bonaparte read, in which he addressed them as president of the French and Cisalpine republics, and laid down the basis of his intended mediation. “A federal constitution,” he said, “is a point of prime necessity for you. Nature herself has adapted Switzerland for it. What you want is an equality of rights among the cantons, a renunciation of all family privileges, and the independent federative organisation of each canton. ”

“ The federal diet exercises supreme sovereignty only in purely national concerns. The great powers at the congress of Vienna guarantee the neutrality of Switzerland. Switzerland is freed from subserviency to France. New aristocracies make themselves felt. ”

“ Switzerland, though not extensive in point of superficial surface, embraces such an extraordinary variety of climate, soil, race, and occupation as to render the rule of a single central democratic government, in an especial manner, vexatious. It must of necessity adhere to a system of Federal Union in preference to that of a central and universally diffused authority; because in small states, having each the power of internal legislation, the interests of the inhabitants are nearly the same, and their influence can be felt and their wants receive due consideration. ”

“ Article 6 Cantons may not forge coalitions amongst themselves that are harmful to the Federal Treaty or the rights of the other cantons.
Article 7 After the recognition of the XXII cantons, the Confederation accepts the principle that there are no longer any subjected lands in Switzerland anymore; the enjoyment of political rights can never be the exclusive privilege of one class of citizens of any canton. ”

“ On a wider field and with a more complex society, no such polity would be possible. To a great nation with extended territories and large population, the application of the federal principle is necessary. Therefore in all but four Cantons of Switzerland this primitive type of government has passed away. That it contains the germs out of which every free constitution in the world has grown cannot be denied. ”

“ You have to make the Compact, which is the federal Constitution of Switzerland to be respected — to re-establish order and tranquillity - and the security of the country — to put down revolt — to preserve Switzerland from anarchy — and to bring back to obedience to the laws, and to the federal authorities the populations led away by those who turn their credulity to account. ”

“ The courts in Switzerland have no place in the political government of the country. The Federal Tribunal does not simply owe its existence to the Federal Assembly, but is constitutionally forbidden to pass upon the validity of the acts of its creator. It is not empowered to judge of violations of the constitution, or to keep the legislature within the limits of a delegated authority, by annulling whatever acts exceed it. According to the Swiss theory, the legislative department wields supreme power; is the sole judge of its own powers ”

“ That the bond uniting the citizens should be that of contract; that rights, including those in natural resources, should be equal, and that each producer should retain the full product of his toil, it must be conceded on examination that toward this ideal Switzerland has made further advances than any other country, despite notable points in exception and the imperfect form of its federal Initiative and Referendum. ”

“ The members of the Federal Council can be and are continually re-elected, notwithstanding sharp antagonisms among themselves, and it may be between them and a majority in the Assembly. They also continue to discharge their administrative duties, whether the measures submitted by them are or are not sanctioned by the voters. The rejection of measures approved and proposed by them does not necessarily injure their position with the country. The Swiss distinguish between men and measures. They retain valued servants in their employment, even though they reject their advice. ”

“ The student of politics may always look with advantage to Switzerland for the latest forms and results of democratic experiments. Federal laws, decrees, and resolutions require the concurrence of both branches of the Federal Assembly ”

“ The Cantons are sovereign insofar as their sovereignty is not limited by the Federal Constitution and, as such, exercise all rights which are not entrusted to the federal power.
Article 4 [Equality] (1) All Swiss citizens are equal before the law. In Switzerland there shall be no subjects, nor privileges of place, birth, person or family. (2) Men and women have equal rights. The law shall provide for their equal treatment, especially as regards family, education and work. Men and women are entitled to equal pay for equal work. ”