Lecture

The Swiss Political System and its Major Political Institutions

Graph Chat

Chat with Graph Search

Ask any question about EPFL courses, lectures, exercises, research, news, etc. or try the example questions below.

DISCLAIMER: The Graph Chatbot is not programmed to provide explicit or categorical answers to your questions. Rather, it transforms your questions into API requests that are distributed across the various IT services officially administered by EPFL. Its purpose is solely to collect and recommend relevant references to content that you can explore to help you answer your questions.

Description

This lecture delves into the Swiss political system, focusing on proportional representation, direct democracy instruments, political parties, and interest groups. It explores the impact of direct democracy on Swiss politics, the composition of the Federal Council, and the decision-making process. The central role of interest groups in Swiss politics is also discussed.

This video is available exclusively on Mediaspace for a restricted audience. Please log in to MediaSpace to access it if you have the necessary permissions.

Watch on Mediaspace

Official source

Ontological neighbourhood

Politics

Political science: Comparative politics

Related concepts (25)

Proportional representation

Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to political divisions (political parties) among voters. The essence of such systems is that all votes cast - or almost all votes cast - contribute to the result and are effectively used to help elect someone - not just a bare plurality or (exclusively) the majority - and that the system produces mixed, balanced representation reflecting how votes are cast.

Mixed-member proportional representation

Mixed-member proportional representation (MMP or MMPR) is a mixed electoral system in which votes are cast for both local elections and also for overall party vote tallies, which are used to allocate additional members to produce or deepen overall proportional representation. In some MMP systems, voters get two votes: one to decide the representative for their single-seat constituency, and one for a political party. In Denmark and others, the single vote cast by the voter is used for both the local election (in a multi-member or single-seat district), and for the overall top-up.

Party-list proportional representation

Party-list proportional representation (list-PR) is a subset of proportional representation electoral systems in which multiple candidates are elected (e.g., elections to parliament) through their position on an electoral list. They can also be used as part of mixed-member electoral systems. In these systems, parties make lists of candidates to be elected, and seats are distributed by elections authorities to each party in proportion to the number of votes the party receives.

Semi-proportional representation

Semi-proportional representation characterizes multi-winner electoral systems which allow representation of minorities, but are not intended to reflect the strength of the competing political forces in close proportion to the votes they receive. Semi-proportional voting systems can be regarded as compromises between forms of proportional representation such as party-list PR, and plurality/majoritarian systems such as first-past-the-post voting. Examples of semi-proportional systems include the single non-transferable vote, limited voting, and parallel voting.

Dual-member proportional representation

Dual-member proportional representation (DMP), also known as dual-member mixed proportional, is an electoral system designed to produce proportional election results across a region by electing two representatives in each of the region’s districts. The first seat in every district is awarded to the candidate who receives the most votes, similar to first-past-the-post voting (FPTP). The second seat is awarded to one of the remaining district candidates so that proportionality is achieved across the region, using a calculation that aims to award parties their seats in the districts where they had their strongest performances.

Related lectures (64)

Swiss Political System

Explores the Swiss political system, including proportional representation, direct democracy, and recent popular initiatives.

Switzerland's Political Integration

Explores Switzerland's multicultural society and political integration, focusing on peaceful cohabitation, federalism, and the Swiss Sonderfall.

Political System and Political Institutions

Explores the Swiss political system, direct democracy, interest groups, and the journey to women's suffrage.

Swiss Political Landscape: Parties and Decision-Making

Explores Swiss political parties, decision-making, interest groups, and 'Concordance Democracy', highlighting the paradox of direct democracy.

Election Methods: Desirable Properties