The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science Volume 43 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1912 edition. Excerpt: ... THE INITIATIVE, REFERENDUM AND RECALL IN SWITZERLAND By William E. Rappard, Of Geneva, Switzerland, Instructor in Economics at Harvard University. I. Why Swiss Democracy Should Interest Americans There are two compelling reasons which make the Swiss experiment in direct democracy well worth considering in the United States. 1. The United States and Switzerland: A Parallel In the first place, political analogies although often deceptive, are always interesting and may sometimes be helpful. The closer they are, the less deceptive and the more suggestive they must prove to be. Now the contrasts are no doubt many and striking between the young, colossal, and ever-expanding republic, founded on the shores of a new continent at the close of the eighteenth century, and the ancient and minute Helvetic commonwealth, situated in the heart of Western Europe, whose legendary origins lie hidden in the darkness of the Middle Ages. But between the two countries of to-day, there are relations and resemblances also, which, though they may escape the glance of the superficial observer, should not be overlooked by the careful student of comparative politics. Both are federal republics in which the so-called principle of "double sovereignty," local and national, has given rise to the same legal problems and to the same political difficulties. The Swiss constitution of 1848, of which the present fundamental law of 1874 is the natural outgrowth, was a conscious imitation of the American constitution of 1789.1 Both countries are democracies. This is 1 This is denied by Ruttimann in his work entitled Das nordamerikanischc Bundesstaatsrechl eerglichen mit den polilischen Einrichtungen der Schweis, 3 vols., Zurich, 1867-1876, vol. I, p. 25. But the constitutional...