Concordance system
Encyclopedia
- For other uses, see ConcordanceConcordanceConcordance can mean:* Concordance , a list of words used in a body of work, with their immediate contexts* Concordance , the presence of the same trait in both members of a pair of twins...
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In Swiss
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
politics, concordance system (German Konkordanzsystem) refers to the presence of all major parties in the Federal Council
Swiss Federal Council
The Federal Council is the seven-member executive council which constitutes the federal government of Switzerland and serves as the Swiss collective head of state....
, also referred to as the integration of the political opposition into government.
The Concordance system is based on two principles
- an arithmetic rule, proportionality: the Federal CouncilSwiss Federal CouncilThe Federal Council is the seven-member executive council which constitutes the federal government of Switzerland and serves as the Swiss collective head of state....
should be representative of the political forces of the country, that is, its composition should be similar to that of the Federal Assembly. - a political rule, consensus: the government must reach a compromise, even though it is composed of antagonistic parties.
One of the reasons explaining such a system (that also exists at the cantonal
Cantons of Switzerland
The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the member states of the federal state of Switzerland. Each canton was a fully sovereign state with its own borders, army and currency from the Treaty of Westphalia until the establishment of the Swiss federal state in 1848...
level, for partly similar and partly other reasons) is the "threat" of direct democracy
Direct democracy
Direct democracy is a form of government in which people vote on policy initiatives directly, as opposed to a representative democracy in which people vote for representatives who then vote on policy initiatives. Direct democracy is classically termed "pure democracy"...
, since a sizeable opposition could in principle "paralyse" the government by submitting too many referenda
Referendum
A referendum is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. This may result in the adoption of a new constitution, a constitutional amendment, a law, the recall of an elected official or simply a specific government policy. It is a form of...
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The fact that the members of the government must reach common decisions and stand by them is referred to as the principle of collegiality (German Kollegialitätsprinzip), (grounded in the Federal Constitution
Swiss Federal Constitution
The Federal Constitution of 18 April 1999 is the third and current federal constitution of Switzerland. It establishes the Swiss Confederation as a federal republic of 26 cantons , contains a catalogue of individual and popular rights , delineates the responsibilities of the...
, art. 177 al.1). The members of the Federal Council are thus supposed to forgo party politics in the interest of a cooperative spirit among the members of the executive
Executive (government)
Executive branch of Government is the part of government that has sole authority and responsibility for the daily administration of the state bureaucracy. The division of power into separate branches of government is central to the idea of the separation of powers.In many countries, the term...
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History
- The Concordance system started in 1891 with the election of Joseph Zemp, a conservative, in a then entirely Free Democratic executive. The fact that this led to a reduced opposition from the outside of the government has since been referred to as "The Zemp effect".
- From 1959 to 2003, the executive had the same party composition (2 Free Democratic PartyFree Democratic Party of SwitzerlandThe Free Democratic Party was a classical liberal political party in Switzerland. It was one of the major parties in Switzerland until its merger with the smaller classical liberal Liberal Party, to form FDP.The Liberals on 1 January 2009....
, 2 Social DemocraticSocial Democratic Party of SwitzerlandThe Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....
, 2 Christian DemocraticChristian Democratic People's Party of SwitzerlandThe Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland is a Christian democratic political party in Switzerland. It is the fourth-largest party in the National Council, with 31 seats, and the largest in the Council of States, with 15 seats. It has one seat, that of Doris Leuthard, on the Swiss...
, and 1 Swiss People's PartySwiss People's PartyThe Swiss People's Party , also known as the Democratic Union of the Centre , is a conservative political party in Switzerland. Chaired by Toni Brunner, but spearheaded by Christoph Blocher, the party is the largest party in the Federal Assembly, with 58 members of the National Council and 6 of...
.), based on the unwritten rule called the "magic formulaMagic formulaIn Swiss politics, the magic formula is an arithmetic formula for dividing the seven executive seats of the Swiss Federal Council between the four ruling parties. The formula was first applied in 1959...
". Since then, the composition changed to respect the proportionality rule after the rise of the Swiss People's PartySwiss People's PartyThe Swiss People's Party , also known as the Democratic Union of the Centre , is a conservative political party in Switzerland. Chaired by Toni Brunner, but spearheaded by Christoph Blocher, the party is the largest party in the Federal Assembly, with 58 members of the National Council and 6 of...
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See also
- Concord PrinciplesConcord PrinciplesRalph Nader's Concord Principles were offered in 1992 as an invitation to the Presidential candidates to improve civic dialogue and the democratic institutions of the United States....
- Politics of SwitzerlandPolitics of SwitzerlandThe politics of Switzerland take place in the framework of a multi-party federal parliamentary democratic republic, whereby the Federal Council of Switzerland is the head of government. Executive power is exercised by the government and the federal administration and is not concentrated in any one...
- Swiss Federal CouncilSwiss Federal CouncilThe Federal Council is the seven-member executive council which constitutes the federal government of Switzerland and serves as the Swiss collective head of state....