Direct democracy
The term describes a political system in which the people exert power directly. It differs from representative democracy in which the people delegate this power to elected representatives. The two main instruments of direct democracy in Switzerland are the people’s initiative and the optional referendum. Switzerland is referred to as a semi-direct democracy because its system has recourse to both direct democracy and representative public institutions.
More
Heard the one about the Swiss company installing laugh detectors?
More
Switzerland fined for denying asylum for gay Iranian
More
Why cars still reign supreme in ‘rail-nation’ Switzerland
More
Voters could scupper Swiss motorway extension plans
More
Number of Swiss armed forces exceeds specified limit
In compliance with the JTI standards
More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.