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The world’s largest democracy is collapsing before our eyes (www.vox.com)

submitted 2 years ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 23 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Haven't seen any indication of it being in danger in Switzerland. But we have proportional voting rather than first past the post and referenda are common.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 2 years ago (3 children)

I was going to say this. The older democratic systems (easily identified by 1st-past-the-post) are falling apart at the seams, but the rest of us is (relatively) fine. Places like the US and UK need to change their system, but politicians have an incentive not to change anything.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 years ago

Switzerland's isn't so young either. It dates back to Napoleonic times.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

Would France classify as an older system since they have a non-proportional 2-round system?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Places like the US and UK need to change their system, but politicians have an incentive not to change anything.

Fortunately with the US, its decentralized system allows experimentation at the state and local level. My city (Portland, OR) just switched to ranked choice voting for city council along with a host of other changes. Voters statewide will soon be able to vote on using RCV for state races. Meanwhile, ranked choice has been implemented in several other states and localities across the country. It will take a while, but I think ranked choice will become the norm within a few decades.

[–] Psephomancy 1 points 1 year ago

Unfortunately the form of RCV used everywhere in the US is Hare's method, which eliminates candidates based only on voters' first-choice rankings, which largely just perpetuates all the same problems as FPTP. There are many other better reforms. One of those should become the norm instead.

[+] SheeEttin -6 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Switzerland is also a small and relatively homogenous community. That helps too.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 years ago (1 children)

relatively homogenous

Some may be surprised by the cultural diversity this rather small country packs:

It has four main linguistic and cultural regions: German, French, Italian and Romansh. Although most Swiss are German-speaking, national identity is fairly cohesive, being rooted in a common historical background, shared values such as federalism and direct democracy,[15][page needed] and Alpine symbolism.[16][17] Swiss identity transcends language, ethnicity, and religion, leading to Switzerland being described as a Willensnation ("nation of volition") rather than a nation state.[18]

Due to its linguistic diversity, Switzerland is known by multiple native names: Schweiz [ˈʃvaɪts] (German);[f][g] Suisse [sɥis(ə)] (French); Svizzera [ˈzvittsera] (Italian); and Svizra [ˈʒviːtsrɐ, ˈʒviːtsʁɐ] (Romansh).[h] On coins and stamps, the Latin name, Confoederatio Helvetica — frequently shortened to "Helvetia" — is used instead of the spoken languages.

I also think the local traditions differentiating down to single villages are more important and alive than in other countries.

But yes, "national identity is fairly cohesive", maybe you meant that.

[–] SheeEttin 1 points 2 years ago

Yes, that's what I meant.