2.5.1 Switzerland: Federalism and multiculturalism
Description
This article is from the Switzerland FAQ, by Marc Schaefer schaefer@alphanet.ch with numerous contributions by others.
2.5.1 Switzerland: Federalism and multiculturalism
One of the riches of Switzerland is its multi-cultural fabric:
recently, the Parliament recognized Rumantsch as an official language
(before, it was only a national language, i.e. not used in the
administration). After the mandatory vote (March 96) for the change in
the Federal Constitution, Rumantsch is now a national and an official
language in Switzerland. Most people in Switzerland want to preserve
the national cohesion: however, there are differences between cultural
regions (and between town and rural areas) and sometimes it poses
problems (recent votes have shown the distance between, for example,
French-speaking regions and Swiss-German-speaking region, and between
small towns and rural areas and big cities).
About Rumantsch: The URL http://xmission.com/~pengar/non-profit/PUNTS
points to a newspaper in (Grischuns) Rumantsch. While there are 4 more
Rumantsch dialects, this one appears to be the most popular
one. Please note that Rumantsch uses umlauts so make sure your WWW
browser can handle that.
This multi-culturalism is possible because Switzerland is federalist. The
Confederation only takes care of some important charges (such as military,
social insurance, treaty with other countries, and so on). Everything
else, for example education, police or public assistance is of the domain
of the Cantons (or the cities).
Laws are usually the same between Cantons, with some local exceptions
(notably, polizeistunde (close-down for pubs) or legality of
abortion). Some Cantons do apply Federal law differently than
others: for example, the French-speaking region (Welschschweiz, Suisse
romande) is very restrictive regarding the consumption of drugs: some
cities (such as Zuerich) have been very permissive. With `conscience
objectors' (ie people not wanting to do the compulsory military
service), the situation is somewhat inverted.
There are also multiple religions in Switzerland. However, people are
usually not very active. Some Cantons include Church Tax (usually
catholic and/or reformist) in the taxes. People can circumvent those
by quitting church, whereas companies always have to pay. Most Cantons
are however separated from the Church, but recognize some churches as
official.
Like the Old Confederation, the constitution of 1848 discriminated
against Jewish people (in fact, against all non Christian
religions). Parliament abolished the relevant paragraphs in 1864/65
under the threat of economic sanctions by the USA, the Netherlands and
France. Also, until recently, the establishment of monastical retreats
and bishoprics was also subject to the authorization of the
Confederation (this is/was in the Constitution).
1980:
Roman Catholic: 47.6%
Reformed Church (Protestant): 44.3%
Others: 8.1%
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