How does 🗳️ Politics work in 🇨🇭Switzerland? - VisualPolitik EN

Switzerland is one of the most exceptional, dazzling and amazing countries in the world. Despite being nestled between mountains and not having any remarkable natural resources, it has become one of the richest states on the planet.

However, what is less well known is that Switzerland has one of the strangest and most extravagant political systems in the world, a system that has become a source of prosperity. Do you want to know more about a country where presidents are only in power for one year and the "ministers" are from different political parties? Don't miss this video.

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[enzogabrielbarbagelata]

One of the most important points is that most politicians in Switzerland have a real job apart from his/hers political duty. There is a compensation for working as a politician but it is not very well paid for. In Switzerland politics is considered a vocation/a service to the community.

[marcrcbally]

As a Swiss citizen having lived in Kenya and now the USA, I find that the term "democracy" means different things in different countries. When I lived in Kenya it had a "1-Party" democracy, this in a main part was to counter the tribalism that was rampant in politics. As a Kenyan you were expected to vote for anyone from your tribe regardless of which party they belonged to or what they stood for. Now anyone could run for an elected position as long as they agreed to become a member of the "Party". Was it bad? No and yes, no in that it kept the country stable, you did not have any fighting between parties, but it fostered corruption. When the IMF and the US forced Kenya to switch to a multi-party system, there was a lot of violence and many people died or got displaced. But Kenya has remained stable and prosperous as a result of being a "1-Party" nation at the beginning. While here in the US, it often does not feel like a true democracy to me, elections seem to be a pretty worthless effort resulting in a race to see who can spend more money. There are dozens of roadblocks to ensure that a person's vote barely counts. From Gerrymandering (defining voting areas by demographics, which get changed every 10 years or so to suite the party in power), all the way to the electoral college who has the power throw out the popular vote if they so decided. The last several Republican Presidents lost the popular vote by a decent margin, but won states and voting districts. Then there is the 2 party system that has become just like the tribalism of the very early days of Kenyan politics. In the US you are either a Republican (conservative) or a Democrat (liberal) and people vote according to the party they belong to regardless of what that party's current agenda is. Most people have no idea what either party really stands for. The dividing line seems to be about the right for a woman chose an abortion, and not much more. It feels like there is ZERO consensus in US politics. As soon as a new party gets elected, they try and undo what the previous party put into place. Don't get me wrong though, the US is still a great country, but one gets the feeling that the trend is decline while from what I am following about Kenya the trend is on the up. Switzerland on the other hand still feels the same now as it was 40 years ago. VisualPolitik, it would be interesting to see some episodes where you compare a couple of the different "democratic" political systems like Switzerland, Israel, USA, UK, and maybe Kenya, Uganda, or Rwanda.

[korax]

History lesson:
In 1848 when Switzerland was founded, the Swiss took the USA as a role model. That's why we have similarities like decentralization or the two-chamber system.
The difference is that Switzerland discovered many flaws and further developed and adapted the system, while the USA stood still.

This is what the US could have been.
A truely representative Democracy and not a corupt two-party-dictarship.

[ZenithKappa]

Nice video!
There’s something to add:
1. civic education in school. Like 2-3 hours of it per week (depending on the Canton). This is very important because citizens understand since childhood WHY their country works like it does, what problems it faces, and so on. In other words, a good citizen is an informed citizen.
2. when you vote for a referendum, you receive a brochure at home, explaining you why you should vote yes and why you should vote no, and the opinion of the government (this brochure is approved both by the government and the groups that promoted the referendum). So again, your vote is an informed one.
Oh, and taxes (if compared to Italy, France or Scandinavia) are ridiculously low. And they just lowered it this year in my Canton (often cities record a profit in their balance, even in 2020, and they have to spend the surplus or give it to nearby cities).
What shocked me is that they allow to kill wolves after a certain number of killed sheeps or goats, in order to protect farmers. In Italy this would be unthinkable (kill endangered wildlife and you’ll face jail for A LOT of years).
As an Italian living in CH, i just love this country and hope to become a citizen as soon as possible (10 years plus 2 yrs waiting list...).

[Senpai-ncjs]

As a naturalized Swiss I can confess, it ain’t easy to become a Swiss national! You need to live there for 10 years (each year counts as 2 if you are under 18); learn a Swiss language to a proficient level; assimilate and take the exam. You may get a bit fast tracked If you are a man under 18 during application (so you can do the mandatory Swiss army service). But once you get it, you are a very lucky person

[allansm]

Politicians that work together for the good of the people and earn their wages. Wow

[TWCHHK]

Every Swiss: "Our time to shine has come"👁️👄👁️

[mitchaid]

I'm a British born Swiss citizen and have been following your channel for years. Love this video. You explained everything very well if not perfectly. 👍🏻 Also liked the potential challenges at the end. Always interested to hear what other people think of 🇨🇭. I'm very proud our system of government and hope it lasts for ever. 😊 Looking forward to your next video on a Swiss subject 😁

[SerenityMLSAMLN]

Swede here. I wish we could be a little more like the Swiss. Direct democracy and referendums on every important issue would most definitely ensure that stability, unification and peace is upheld while politicians work to serve the people rather than the opposite. Sadly, we've gone a different route.

[fynngachter]

This video really makes me happy that i was born in switzerland. And I’m definitely more grateful for this great system we have!!

[peterbohren]

actually it is much less complicated in practice than it seems. And it works.

[Robozgraggi]

I don't quite understand how foreigners not being able participate in political votes is a downside. If you want to vote in a country you must have citizenship of this country, to me that's the most normal thing ever...

[juanmanuel]

Switzerland has an almost perfect political system

[robing]

Having that many different political groups is key to prevent extreme groups. I would argue that in switzerland the amount of radical rightwingers or radical leftwingers is very small compared to as example the USA, which only has two big political groups.

[aweik]

Earlier this morning I got into a rabbithole
and read a 90 page pdf on the swiss social security programs, and I can safely say that this is much more entertaining. Keep up the good work!

[andersonklein]

Switzerland is exactly great because it's so hard to pass laws. It's great because it requires consensus. That many ways laws can be blocked, and how hard it is to consolidate power, is by design. The federal laws should always, always be the minimum, the absolute consensus of the overwhelming majority to the point of common sense. It is a plague and a curse of modern democracies that any law can be passed with a simple majority, and a remainder of despotism that the executive branch has so much power.

[SerenityMLSAMLN]

Preventing foreign individuals from voting is a smart scheme. It prevents radical or drastic changes in the political system, ensures that the citizens who've over generations lived and deeply taken part of Swiss culture can make political changes, and prevents destabilization. Every country should do this. Switzerland are in many ways conservative in areas where it matters.

[matcap]

Swiss person here. One important "oversee" here is that we don't have elections every 3 months, but votes. We make a big difference between elections and votations. That is why we sometimes say that other countries don't vote, they just elect.
Also the composition of the federal council is not always 4 swiss-germans, 2 swiss-frenc, and one swiss-Italian, but more like 4 swiss-germans, and 3 swiss-"latin", most commonly 3 swiss-French, with sometimes 2 swiss-French and one Swiss-italian. We also try to always have at least 3 women in the council.

[tizianschmidlin]

Very good video! One oddity that did not come up: the parliament only seats 4 months a year, politicians usually have a normal day job, besides being politicians, which is not the case everywhere.

[robing]

Never saw someone doing a swiss politics explained video that good, well done!