Swiss Federalism from a Comparative Perspective –Dealing with Reform Obstacles
✍ Scribed by Adrian Vatter; Sonja Wälti
- Publisher
- Swiss Political Science Association
- Year
- 2003
- Tongue
- German
- Weight
- 280 KB
- Volume
- 9
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 1420-3529
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✦ Synopsis
Swiss Federalism from a Comparative Perspective ‐ Dealing with Reform Obstacles
In the first part of this introductory contribution, the authors present the content of this special edition as well as the individual articles and their main findings. The contributions are organized along three main comparative themes: the international and inter‐temporal comparison of Swiss federalism, the comparison of the constituent units from an institutional point of view, and the comparative analysis of their functioning in specific policy areas. In the second part of this article, the authors develop three theses concerning reform obstacles and opportunities of Swiss federalism related to polity, politics, and policy. They argue that federalism reforms are difficult to undertake given the conjunction of both centrifugal and centripetal dynamics. However, reforms are facilitated in Switzerland because institutions of federalism hardly ever turn into a politically contended issue and because federal conflicts and reform obstacles can be avoided by means of informal coordination.