The political and economic crisis of EU integration has made it increasingly apparent how challenging it is to bring together different sovereign cultures, languages and regions into a single political system. Switzerland – being one of the three classic federations in the world – can provide insights, particularly in relation to the accommodation of cultural, linguistic, religious and regional diversity, which can help tackle contemporary challenges.This book describes and analyse...

Departing from the established literature connecting the political-institutional patterns of democracy with the quality of democracy, this book acknowledges that democracies, if they can be described as such, come in a wide range of formats. At the conceptual and theoretical level, the authors make an argument based on deliberation, redrawing power diffusion in terms of the four dimensions of proportionality, decentralisation, presidentialism and direct democracy, and considering the poten...

This volume provides a comprehensive analysis of the many different facets of the Swiss political system and of the major developments in modern Swiss politics. It brings together a diverse set of more than 50 leading experts in their respective areas, who explore Switzerland's distinctive and sometimes intriguing politics at all levels and across multiple themes. In placing the topics in an international and comparative context and in conversation with the broader scholarly literature, th...

This open access book provides an updated and fully revised 4th edition of this authoritative analysis of Swiss democracy. It particularly explains the institutions of federalism and consensus government through political power sharing. In this new edition, the authors also address several important changes and challenges that have affected Swiss democracy, including the country's relationship with the EU, fiscal equalisation, direct democracy and the legitimacy of national referendums, te...

Despite its geographical centrality and its considerable economic involvement in Europe, Switzerland remains unusual in that it is neither a member of the European Union or the European Economic Area. At a time when the Union is both expanding and seeking to develop its integration, the country constitutes a real anomaly amongst west European states.This book demonstrates the range, depth and complexity of Switzerland’s developing relations with Europe and provides detailed and up-...

While Switzerland is well known for its specific political institutions, such as direct democracy, federalism and neutrality, or for its banking secrecy, its socio-economic institutions, which decisively contributed to its prosperity, remain relatively unexplored.This book gives the first systematic overview of Swiss political economy in comparative perspectives. Divided into four sections, the first offers an introduction to Swiss political economy, its major political institution...

The Sustainable Governance Indicators (SGI) 2011 make up the second and latest edition of this major study, and they build upon the work of the successful and widely acknowledged first edition, from 2009. The study examines 31 OECD countries and their performance during the period between May 2008 and April 2010, which witnessed the height of the global financial turmoil and economic crisis. In addition to the 2011 findings, this volume also includes essays on the project's conceptual fram...

Switzerland is facing critical foreign policy challenges. Its relationship with the EU is still unsettled, the geopolitical landscape is changing rapidly, and technological innovation brings additional dynamics into play. This book provides a forward-looking guide for all those concerned with Swiss foreign policy issues, and an overview of Swiss foreign policy along its key areas. It deals, for example, with foreign trade, international financial markets, migration, environmental policy, h...

Shedding new light on the foundations of European competition law, this volume is a legal and historical study of the emerging law and its evolution through the 1980s. It retraces the development and critical junctures of competition law not only at the level of the European Economic Community but also at the level of major Member States of the EEC. Intensely researched and rich with insights, the chapters in this volume reflect a close collaboration among an expert group of lawyers and hi...

Swiss Foreign Policy provides in-depth insights into the procedures and constraints of Swiss foreign policy, answering questions such as:* Why is Switzerland not a member of the European Union?* What are the implications of staying apart and how important is neutrality in today's Europe?* What are the implications of federalism and direct democracy on foreign policy?* How should conflicting interests in foreign policy decision-making be dealt with?...

This book looks at the background to the policy of free movement in Europe and discusses the consequences. European integration changed migration conditions considerably: Under the concept of "freedom of movement", border crossings between EU member states as well as work and settlement by nationals of other member states were largely facilitated; internal borders thus lost their significance. At the same time, the question of how to deal with a common external border and the migration of ...

Drawing on the work of Arend Lijphart, this book focuses on consensus democracies. These democracies entail a complex set of democratic institutional and conventional arrangements and can be regarded as a product of path-dependent development towards a national culture of compromise and bargaining.Taking a multi-dimensional and multi-spatial approach, this book examines the West central European consensus democracies of Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands and Switzerland, ove...