Landsgemeinde
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The Landsgemeinde ("cantonal assembly"; German: to vote on local questions.
The German term Landsgemeinde itself is attested from at least the 16th century, in the 1561 dictionary of Pictorius. It is a compound from Land "land, canton; rural canton" and Gemeinde "community, commune".
Eligible citizens of the
The Landsgemeinde has been the sovereign institution of the Swiss rural cantons since the late Middle Ages, while in the city-cantons such as Lucerne, Schaffhausen, or Bern, a general assembly of all citizens was never established.
Similar assemblies in dependent territories were known under terms such as Talgemeinde (for
Definition
Structure
At the Landsgemeinde, citizens of a district or canton assemble annually in a public space under open sky to vote on a series of
The duration of the Landsgemeinde varies significantly between the two cantons that still convene it. In
Subject of the votes
Symptomatic of the
History
Origin
The Landsgemeinde assembly is a tradition with continuity back to the later Middle Ages, first recorded in the context of the
The first Landsgemeinde proper is attested for
In the Old Swiss Confederacy, the existence of a Landsgemeinde was the defining feature of the rural cantons (Länderorte, as opposed to the city-cantons). These Cantons were:
. Zug took an intermediate position, as it was a city-canton which due to the existence of a Landsgemeinde was also counted under the rural cantons.With the formation of Switzerland as a federal state, the formerly sovereign cantonal assemblies became subject to federal law, and the Landsgemeinden came to be seen as anachronisms.
Evolution and current situation
The usage of the Landsgemeinde was progressively abandoned at the cantonal level through the 19th and 20th century. Zug and Schwyz jettisoned it in 1848, followed by Uri in 1928.
Nidwalden in 1996, Appenzell Ausserrhoden in 1997 and Obwalden in 1998 abolished their cantonal Landsgemeinde by secret ballot votes.
Currently,
Glarus recently introduced measures to encourage participation at the Landsgemeinde. In 2007, participation was extended to citizens aged 16 and older, which constitutes an exception in Switzerland.[7] Likewise, each year on the day of the Landsgemeinde, participants can use all public transports of the canton for free.
In
Besides the cantonal assemblies, the Swiss Confederation is supporting various projects inspired by the Landsgemeinden and built on the same ideas. For instance, the 4th Cyber-Landsgemeinde was organised on April 6, 2016 in Bern, with the aim to use democratic deliberation to foster reflections and find solutions related to the topic of cyber-security.[8] Likewise, the urban municipality of Kloten implemented in 2012 a version of the Landsgemeinde to deliberate on the allocation of funds to local projects, which enabled for example the construction of a new Kindergarten.[9]
Related political paradigms and criticisms
Direct democracy
The Landsgemeinde forms one of the pillars of the direct democratic core of the Swiss political structure. Even if its use has sharply decreased in the past century, it is still considered as a characteristic institution of the Swiss democracy and is generally considered as a
"Evidence suggests that attendance at assemblies in Appenzell and Glarus, as well as most town meetings in Vermont and possibly also in ancient Athens, has always been limited to roughly twenty per cent of the citizenry."[11]
Moreover, the
Ochlocracy
There have been suggestions placing the Landsgemeinde system in the vicinity of "
The open ballot system ostensibly fails to assure the secrecy of the vote. Switzerland has explicitly introduced an exception to article 25 of its International Pact on Civil and Political Rights in order to protect the Landsgemeinde, avoiding complying with the letter of article 21.3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights protecting the secrecy of the vote.[14] Switzerland has never ratified the first convention protocol of the European Convention on Human Rights for a similar reason.[15]
Under such conditions, social control and other crowd manipulation processes might then prevent citizens from voting according to their own preferences and mislead rational decisions. On the other hand, according to the ancient Greek tradition of parrhesia, literally "saying everything", a public assembly could teach individuals to express their opinions with frankness and collective responsibility.[16]
Studies of outcomes of the Landsgemeinde in various administrative divisions (Schaub 2012, Gerber & Mueller 2014[citation needed]) seem to suggest that proper preliminary deliberation can help reach better decisions defined by the "unforced force of the better argument" (Habermas, 1992).[17][clarification needed]
See also
- Voting in Switzerland
- Direct democracy
- Inclusive Democracy
- Participatory democracy
References
- ^ Stadler, Hans: Landsgemeinde in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland, 2021-01-18.
- ^ a b Ueber die Macht des kleinen Buergers. Tagblatt, 28 April 2013. http://www.tagblatt.ch/ostschweiz-am-sonntag/ostschweiz/art304158,3385183
- ^ The Federal Council, portal of the Swiss government. (2012) Swiss Federalism "How Swiss federalism works". Archived from the original on 14 July 2016. Retrieved 24 June 2016.
- ^ Landsgemeinde in Appenzell Inner Rhodes Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Glarus Landsgemeinde
- ^ a b Schaub (2012), p. 309.
- ^ "Übersicht | Glarner Landsgemeinde". www.landsgemeinde.gl.ch. Archived from the original on 21 June 2011.
- ^ "Vierte «Cyber-Landsgemeinde» des Sicherheitsverbundes Schweiz". Archived from the original on 20 April 2016. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
- ^ "2012 - Landsgemeinde Kloten".
- ^ Schaub (2012), pp. 322-323.
- ^ Lucardie, Paul.(2014) Democratic Extremism in Theory and Practice: All Power to the People, p. 56
- ^ Geschichte-schweiz.ch (2004) Switzerland's Long Way to Women's Right to Vote http://history-switzerland.geschichte-schweiz.ch/chronology-womens-right-vote-switzerland.html
- ^ Blum, R., Köhler, B. (2006). Partizipation und Deliberation in der Versammlungsdemokratie. Schweizer Landsgemeinden mit Kommunikationsdefiziten? In K. Imhof, R. Blum, H.Bonfadelli, & O. Jarren (ed.), Demokratie in der Mediengesellschaft (pp. 285–303).
- ^ "Fedlex".
- ^ Hangartner, Yvo, Kley, Andreas. (2000) Die demokratischen Rechte in Bund und Kantonen der Schweizerischen Eidgenossenschaft. Schulthess Verlag.
- ^ Saxonhouse, Arlene W. (2000) The Practice of Parrhêsia. Free Speech and Democracy in Ancient Athens. 85-90.
- ^ Habermas, Jürgen. (1992) Deliberative Politics: A Procedural Concept of Democracy. 306
Bibliography
- Marabello, Thomas Quinn (February 2023). "The Origins of Democracy in Switzerland," Swiss American Historical Society Review, Vol. 59: No. 1. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/sahs_review/vol59/iss1/4
- T. Favre-Bulle. (2015) The Urban Diffusion of Local Direct Democracy between Switzerland and the United States.
- H. Ryffel. (1903) Die schweizerische Landsgemeinde nach geltendem Rechte.
- W.-A. Liebeskind. (1971) L. et suffrage féminin, pp. 371–375.
- S. Duroy. (1987) «Les "Landsgemeinden suisses"», in Les procédés de la démocratie semi-directe dans l'administration locale en Suisse, pp. 1-94.
- Schaub, Hans-Peter. (2012) Maximising Direct Democracy – by Popular Assemblies or by Ballot Votes? Swiss Political Science Association.
- H.R. Stauffacher. (1989) Herrschaft und Landsgemeinde.
- P. Blickle. (1990) «Friede und Verfassung, Voraussetzungen und Folgen der Eidgenossenschaft von 1291», in Innerschweiz und frühe Eidgenossenschaft 1, pp. 15–202.
- U. Kälin. (1991) Die Urner Magistratenfamilien.
- L. Carlen. (1996) «Die Landsgemeinde», in Die Ursprünge der schweizerischen direkten Demokratie, ed. A. Auer, pp. 15–25 (with Bibl.).
- F. Brändle. (2005) Demokratie und Charisma.
- B. Adler. (2006) Die Entstehung der direkten Demokratie.
- B. Wickli. (2006) Politische Kultur und die "reine Demokratie".