List of Boxes
- 1.1 Characteristics of Switzerland 2
- 1.2 Development of various sectors of the economy, 1800-1990 3
- 1.3 Religious conflicts betv/een Protestant and Catholic cantons from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century 7
- 1.4 Main authorities of the federation: power-sharing and proportional representation among representatives of different cultures, languages and parties 10
- 1.5 Direct democracy 11
- 1.6 Political parties 11
- 1.7 Neutrality: a necessary aid in building up the Swiss nation 14
- 1.8 Developing a collective identity 17
- 1.9 Proportional rule and quotas 32
- 2.1 The main powers of the federation, the cantons and the communes 41
- 2.2 The powers of the Swiss parliament 47
- 2.3 Local government: the institutions 53
- 2.4 Mechanisms of financial compensation 62
- 2.5 Excerpt from a speech by US Senator Al Gore on 19 September 1991 80
- 3.1 Difficulties of building up 'constructive majorities': the example of taxation 102
- 3.2 Tougher restrictions on refugees: Cleavages, motives and voting behaviour 107
- 3.3 Newspapers with differing political viewpoints: essential in a democracy but not guaranteed for all Swiss people 110
- 3.4 Direct democracy in situations of urgency and times of war 121
- 3.5 The actors: from majority rule to power-sharing 122
- 3.6 'No single winner takes all, everybody wins something': conditions of good or poor compromise 125
- 3.7 Parastate administration - the Swiss way of corporatism 129