Swiss Democracy

The features of Swiss democracy are frequently praised in theory but rarely assessed in practice. In this book Wolf Linder explains the way government and politics work in Switzerland. Combining the essence of many empirical studies with own observations, and giving illustrative examples, the author thoroughly analyses the institutions of federalism and consensus democracy through political power-sharing. With the critical eye of a political scientist, Linder then analyses the scope and limits of citizens' participation in direct democracy - which distinguishes Switzerland most from…