The Stability of Swiss Subsidiarity

What if I told you of a land in which people could vote on the state’s ability to tax them? If the state had not given anything worthwhile to the people, they could in principle refuse to be taxed until the state regained their trust. The states and towns are largely free to decide upon their own tax scheme, and where their tax money went. This degree of local control extended to nearly all areas of life, yet the most fundamental individual liberties were protected. Rather than devolve into a tyranny of the majority, this political system has lasted for hundreds of years. This is not a freedom-loving pipedream, but rather, the Swiss Federation. The Swiss government has a local-first government that is strongly based upon the principle of subsidiarity. According to Merriam Webster subsidiarity is the “principle in social organization holding that functions which are performed effectively by subordinate or local organizations belong more properly to them than to a dominant central organization.” Essentially, each level of the Swiss government only exercises its power when the power structure below needs it. This principle provides a clear framework to evaluate all government action, and can make evident abuses of power that citizens of other countries would accept as normal.

The Swiss first embrace subsidiarity by holding local power as the core of government action. This increase in local power often puts less focus on individual rights in comparison to an American context. However, what is lost in individual liberty is more than made up for in limitation of the central state. Sometimes, people have to submit to things decided upon by their village that they would have been free from in the United States. However, the smaller groups making decisions allows targeted problem-solving with a deep understanding of the issues affecting the community. Rather than patching national solutions on to local problems, Swiss citizens are able to gain real self governance because of their agreement to have an involved local government. While many individual rights are protected, adjustment to and understanding of local customs and laws is more necessary than in a country with more centralized control. Subsidiarity works well for the Swiss because it gives the most power to the most controllable form of government. 

Subsidiarity demands that the higher level of government step in where the local level needs help, and the Swiss show this by slowly escalating needs from towns to cantons to the central government. The towns let the cantons control the police, and the cantons let the Federal government control the military. The Federal government also keeps the cantons and towns in check to ensure they are enforcing individual rights. The proper balance between freedom from the central state and protection of rights from others must be decided upon by each country, but to act as though you can have all of both is fantasy. While strong local government replaces large government, the second principle of subsidiarity is necessary to protect individuals and communities from utter ruin and the overreach of local government. Nations are formed to protect against lawlessness and the assaults of nature, and sometimes a larger form of government is the best solution to those things. The role of insurance and support are the best way to describe the larger levels of government in Switzerland.

In antithesis to the empowerment of smaller governance, Switzerland takes many pains to minimize the effective and nominal power of the Federal government. The Federal government faces numerous roadblocks to changing or creating any legislation. Rather than handing the presidency to one person, it is a responsibility rotated every year between members of the federal council, and the head is described as “the first among equals” rather than a superior. The Federal government is never allowed to forget its role of supporting and enforcing the will of all the cantons where they cannot act for themselves. It serves the good of the people and cantons to have a central governing body, but only through intense limitation has it been able to stay beneficial. The Swiss understand the human incentives of government in a way that has allowed them to exist as one of the most independent countries for hundreds of years. The primacy of local governance gives the citizen far more voice and power than the American system that pits a sea of disconnected individuals against insidious Federal encroachment. While the American system claims to be based on individual liberty, citizens would do well to ponder how some applied principles of subsidiarity could destabilize the top-heavy status quo and return power to the people.