Gregory A. Fossedal

Direct Democracy in Switzerland

2002

Si te theatre est petit, le spectacle a done de la grandeur. -- Alexis de Tocqueville


Contents

Foreword: Alfred R. Berkeley IIIix
Preface: Richard Holbrooke xv
Part 1. Conception
1. Pilgrimage 3
Part 2. History
2. 129111
3. Willensnation19
4. Geodeterminism29
Part 3. Institutions
5. Constitution43
6. Executives Branch51
7. Judiciary69
8. Parliament75
9. Referendum87
10. Communities117
Part 4. Issues
11. Education135
12. Taxes145
13. Crime155
14. Welfare171
15. Pressl81
16. Family193
17. Army205
18. Switzerland Accused213
19. Diversity233
Part 5. L'Idee Suisse
20. The End of History
and the Next Citizen
251
Bibliography271
Index279
              

Figures and Tables
  • Figure 3.1: The low of goods, people, and ideas in Western Europe -- roughly 1200 to the present. The core: Switzerland
  • Figure 3.2: The Growth of Willensnation (snapshot from 1291, 1353, and 1999)
  • Table 4.1: Swiss Religious Wars
  • Table 5.1: Constitutions at a Glance: Provisions for Selected Countries
  • Table 6.1: Military Crises and the Swiss Executive
  • Table 7.1: Supreme Courts Compared
  • Table 8.1: Salaries for Legislators (ECU per month)
  • Table 9.1: Direct Democracy in Switzerland
  • Table 10.1: Communities in Contrast: Decision-Making Level and Method for Selected Acts
  • Figure 11.1: Math Performance by Country
  • Table 11.1: Swiss Schools Compared
  • Figure 11.2: Education Bureaucracy Index
  • Table 12.1: Personal Income Tax Rates by Country
  • Figure 13.1: Murder Rates by Country
  • Figure 13.2: Rape Crimes Per 1 Million Persons
  • Figure 13.3: Total Drug Offenses and Drug Trafficking Rates
  • Table 13.1: Criminal Justice Spending by Level of Government
  • Figure 13.4: Total Drug Arrests in Zürich City
  • Figure 13.5: Drug Seizures by Zurich Police (cantonal and city, combined)
  • Figure 14.1: Average Combination of Social Welfare and Assistance by Cantons
  • Figure 15.1: Comparison of the Number of Newspapers, Radio Stations, and Television Stations by Language
  • Table 16.1: The Families of Nations (selected comparative statistics)
  • Table 16.2: Teen Pregnancy, Birth, and Abortion Rates
  • Figure 16.1: Swiss Women's Wages, 1940-2000
  • Figure 18.1: Swiss National Bank Gold Purchases from German Reichsbank
  • Table 18.1: Meeting the Nazi Threat Military Spending per Capita, 1935
  • Table 18.2: Havens from the Holocast Jewish Refugees from Germany Accepted per 1 Million Persons in Country's 1930 Population
  • Figure 19.1: Reasons for Pride in Being Swiss
  • Table 20.1: Sovereign Acts in Direct and Representative Democracies
  • Table 20.2: How "The People" Are Heard -- Direct versus Representative Democracy