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Question, how does Switzerland avoid becoming more polarized country with so many referendum questions each year? Do you think there is a risk passing a refere

by a-saleh 10y ago

Question, how does Switzerland avoid becoming more polarized country with so many referendum questions each year? Do you think there is a risk passing a referendum resolution that passed just by a small margin? I have been thinking about this since the result of Austrian presidental elections, and how more polarized the politics in Europe is becoming, while trying to figure out if there is a way how to move politics to a a place where it would strive for finding society-wide consensus and compromise on most issues.

Zarkonnen 10y ago
It can be pretty polarized unfortunately. For example, in 2002, an (in my opinion, pretty extreme) anti-immigration referendum was defeated with a margin of 4208 votes. https://www.admin.ch/ch/d/pore/va/20021124/index.html https://www.admin.ch/ch/d/pore/va/20021124/index.html
Hermel 10y ago
> Question, how does Switzerland avoid becoming more polarized country with so many referendum questions each year? As a Swiss, I would say a high number of referenda works against polarization. This Sunday, we had to vote on five national questions and additional local ones. This high number of questions makes it very unlikely that you agree on everything even with your family and best friends. Thus, we automatically learn to disagree without getting polarized. My grand-father always encouraged his children to vote even though he knew they nomrally had different opinions and "neutralized" his vote. To him, voting at all was much more important than what the vote was, as long as you vote for what you honestly believe is right. I fully share this view.
- studentrob 10y ago
  That bit about your grandfather is incredibly mature. I wish we saw this sentiment more often in the US.
zahllos 10y ago
A referendum resolution did pass with a small margin and it was controversial. Said initiative was the "initiative contre l'immigration en masse", or in English "Against mass immigration". It was accepted by 50,3% of Swiss voters and 12 Swiss Cantons outright and 5 cantons counting half towards the vote (out of 26). It is controversial, as the implementation of said vote means bringing back immigration quotas for all EU citizens, meaning Switzerland would need to leave the Schengen area. To the EU this means Switzerland would be rejecting a whole set of bilateral agreements, so the implementation of this particular vote is causing a headache for the Swiss government. That said, further referendums on the question of immigration, for example automatically expelling convicted foreigners after their sentence is complete were fairly convincingly rejected. From the Swiss I know, most consider the referendum process to be fairly normal and routine. They receive information booklets presenting both sides of the argument, the view from the government and the view from any political parties who are interested. They make their decision and they decide. It is difficult to explain I think unless you've seen it in action. I am from the UK and we are currently in the middle of the Brexit/Remain campaign. There's not an iota of fact or reason in the current debate and our politicians do things like predict WWIII if we leave and waves of Turkish immigrants if we remain. The whole thing is moronic and embarrassing. There are without a doubt some stupid things said/done here (the black sheep poster by the SVP for example) but the level of political discourse is no way near the level of stupidity in the UK IMO. If you're imagining Trump-esque campaigns every few months, it's basically the polar opposite. Unless you speak the local language and know what you're looking at, you'd hardly notice. At best you will see billboard or two amidst the other adverts and perhaps receive an information leaflet in the post. That's it. Perhaps the Swiss guy or girl above might say it is more obvious perhaps, if you have more Swiss friends than I do or watch a lot of TV, but I don't think, from what I have seen, that it is anywhere near as vitriolic as any other country I know. Source: I'm British and I live in a French-speaking Canton (in spite of my username).
stcredzero 10y ago
Question, how does Switzerland avoid becoming more polarized country with so many referendum questions each year? In the US, many vilify their political opponents as crazy and/or morally inferior. This has happened around referendums. We also try to get civic organizations to adopt politicized codes of conduct and have politicized social media campaigns to kick people out of civic organizations. I hope Switzerland doesn't have those horrors.
shreyassaxena 10y ago
I guess they should add a minimum margin for the referendum to pass a resolution.
- molmalo 10y ago
  That would give an advantage to those who reject the resolution.
herbst 10y ago
> Question, how does Switzerland avoid becoming more polarized country with so many referendum questions each year? From my experience even young people are able to have healthy discussions about "difficult" topics and then just proceed with life. This topic clearly led to some interesting discussions where some had very radical thoughts to, but i saw no friendships breaking so far. As someone who lived in a while in Austria it is completely different there. I've seen people punched in the face for less aggressive political motives in the public.

by a-saleh 10y ago

Zarkonnen 10y ago

It can be pretty polarized unfortunately. For example, in 2002, an (in my opinion, pretty extreme) anti-immigration referendum was defeated with a margin of 4208 votes. https://www.admin.ch/ch/d/pore/va/20021124/index.html https://www.admin.ch/ch/d/pore/va/20021124/index.html

Hermel 10y ago

> Question, how does Switzerland avoid becoming more polarized country with so many referendum questions each year? As a Swiss, I would say a high number of referenda works against polarization. This Sunday, we had to vote on five national questions and additional local ones. This high number of questions makes it very unlikely that you agree on everything even with your family and best friends. Thus, we automatically learn to disagree without getting polarized. My grand-father always encouraged his children to vote even though he knew they nomrally had different opinions and "neutralized" his vote. To him, voting at all was much more important than what the vote was, as long as you vote for what you honestly believe is right. I fully share this view.

studentrob 10y ago
That bit about your grandfather is incredibly mature. I wish we saw this sentiment more often in the US.

zahllos 10y ago

A referendum resolution did pass with a small margin and it was controversial. Said initiative was the "initiative contre l'immigration en masse", or in English "Against mass immigration". It was accepted by 50,3% of Swiss voters and 12 Swiss Cantons outright and 5 cantons counting half towards the vote (out of 26). It is controversial, as the implementation of said vote means bringing back immigration quotas for all EU citizens, meaning Switzerland would need to leave the Schengen area. To the EU this means Switzerland would be rejecting a whole set of bilateral agreements, so the implementation of this particular vote is causing a headache for the Swiss government. That said, further referendums on the question of immigration, for example automatically expelling convicted foreigners after their sentence is complete were fairly convincingly rejected. From the Swiss I know, most consider the referendum process to be fairly normal and routine. They receive information booklets presenting both sides of the argument, the view from the government and the view from any political parties who are interested. They make their decision and they decide. It is difficult to explain I think unless you've seen it in action. I am from the UK and we are currently in the middle of the Brexit/Remain campaign. There's not an iota of fact or reason in the current debate and our politicians do things like predict WWIII if we leave and waves of Turkish immigrants if we remain. The whole thing is moronic and embarrassing. There are without a doubt some stupid things said/done here (the black sheep poster by the SVP for example) but the level of political discourse is no way near the level of stupidity in the UK IMO. If you're imagining Trump-esque campaigns every few months, it's basically the polar opposite. Unless you speak the local language and know what you're looking at, you'd hardly notice. At best you will see billboard or two amidst the other adverts and perhaps receive an information leaflet in the post. That's it. Perhaps the Swiss guy or girl above might say it is more obvious perhaps, if you have more Swiss friends than I do or watch a lot of TV, but I don't think, from what I have seen, that it is anywhere near as vitriolic as any other country I know. Source: I'm British and I live in a French-speaking Canton (in spite of my username).

stcredzero 10y ago

Question, how does Switzerland avoid becoming more polarized country with so many referendum questions each year? In the US, many vilify their political opponents as crazy and/or morally inferior. This has happened around referendums. We also try to get civic organizations to adopt politicized codes of conduct and have politicized social media campaigns to kick people out of civic organizations. I hope Switzerland doesn't have those horrors.

shreyassaxena 10y ago

I guess they should add a minimum margin for the referendum to pass a resolution.

molmalo 10y ago
That would give an advantage to those who reject the resolution.

herbst 10y ago

> Question, how does Switzerland avoid becoming more polarized country with so many referendum questions each year? From my experience even young people are able to have healthy discussions about "difficult" topics and then just proceed with life. This topic clearly led to some interesting discussions where some had very radical thoughts to, but i saw no friendships breaking so far. As someone who lived in a while in Austria it is completely different there. I've seen people punched in the face for less aggressive political motives in the public.