Swiss perspectives in 10 languages
Login
Swiss Politics

How Switzerland’s political system of direct democracy works

Together with neutrality and federalism, direct democracy is a part of the Swiss national identity and helps unite the various languages, religions and cultures in the country. This video gives you a short introduction to this unique political system. (Produced by swissinfo.ch on behalf of the Organisation of the Swiss Abroad)

This content was published on
1 minute

A documentary and animation filmmaker from Bern, Michele studied film at Zurich University of the Arts. He's been a swissinfo.ch video journalist since 2004 and has a special interest in developing new video formats for mobile viewing, mixing animation and documentary styles.

Please note: This video was made in 2011. The political landscape has changed and the numbers are no longer representative. For more recent figures go to the Democracy Barometer project pageExternal link.


Most Read
Swiss Abroad

Most Discussed

More

Debate
Hosted by: Benjamin von Wyl

What could Switzerland and the United States learn from each other today?

What could the two democracies learn from each other?

Join the discussion
98 Likes
79 Comments
View the discussion

More

Debate
Hosted by: Giannis Mavris

What is the future of Swiss neutrality?

Is Swiss neutrality misunderstood? Or has the Swiss model of neutrality now become obsolete?

Join the discussion
304 Likes
196 Comments
View the discussion

More

Debate
Hosted by: Samuel Jaberg

How should Switzerland relieve congestion on its motorways?

On November 24, Swiss voters will decide on a government proposal to expand the motorway network. What do you think about this?

Join the discussion
60 Likes
76 Comments
View the discussion
More Debates

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.

Read more

More

Swiss not as democratic as they think

This content was published on The Democracy Barometer, co-authored by researchers at Zurich University and unveiled on Thursday, found that Denmark, Finland and Belgium had the world’s best functioning democracies. Britain and France were among the worst performers.The barometer, developed with the Social Science Research Center Berlin (WZB) and the first of its kind, shows the development of the 30…

Read more: Swiss not as democratic as they think

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR