Switzerland and the USA: sister republics
At first glance, the USA and Switzerland seem like two very different countries. But a look back at their shared history springs a few surprises. It shows how closely the political systems of the two nations are related to one another.
René Roca
René Roca has a PhD in history and is a secondary school teacher and Director of the Research Institute for Direct Democracy fidd.ch.
Scepticism towards Rousseau’s sovereignty of the people
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The American Revolution as the fruit of the Swiss Enlightenment
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
It was during the late 18th century, during its war of independence against the British, that the USA first spoke of ‘Sister Republics’ in relation to Switzerland. The USA was comparing its own war of independence against the British crown with the existence – at the time, admittedly, idealised – of a federal republic in an otherwise monarchical Europe.
The American Revolution as impetus for the French and Helvetic Revolutions
During the French Revolution, draft constitutions were submitted which included instruments of direct democracy and which became important points of reference for developments in Switzerland but not, for the time being, in the USA. Fuelled by the political practice of the American and French Revolutions, the brief period of the Helvetic Republic (1798-1803) laid the foundations for further democratic debates in Switzerland.
The US Constitution as a model for Switzerland’s Federal Constitution
As the legislative authority in Switzerland, the National Council and the Council of States are a copy of the US bicameral system. The real impetus for this concept came from the most important Swiss philosopher of the 19th century, Ignaz Paul Vital Troxler (1780-1866). When the Swiss Constitution was revised in 1848, Troxler took a decisive hand in the discussions on the federal institutions. He had long advocated the federal state concept with a bicameral system modelled on the USA. The paper he had written on the subject, ‘Die Verfassung der Vereinigten Staaten Nordamerikas als Musterbild der schweizerischen Bundesreform’ (The Constitution of the United States of North America as a Model for Swiss Federal Reform), probably found its way into the deliberations of the relevant committee through one of his former students. The idea became reality, and Troxler thus left his mark on the Swiss federal state system based on the US model. With the introduction of proportional voting rights for the National Council, from 1919 onwards Switzerland strengthened the pluralism of the parties; in the USA this step has not yet been taken.
As already noted, the American constitutional fathers were sceptical of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and rejected his concept of sovereignty of the people. For that reason, they were wary of any forms of further participation in decision-making by the population within the framework of the principle of democracy. Lockean liberalism thus gained greater significance in the USA, because it took up the English utilitarian tradition more directly. But in the late 19th century, Switzerland once again became an important source of ideas for the USA, namely in terms of direct democracy.
The Populist Movement calls for a direct democracy as in Switzerland
