01
Power (-56)
Civil liberty to State authority
Reads toward Civil liberty.
Switzerland
The library scores Switzerland's constitutional model as the decentralist end of the structure axis, strongly toward popular rule, and market-leaning. It is a reading of a constitution, not of how Swiss citizens vote.
These are modelled constitutional and civic traditions, not measurements of how a country votes and not statements about its people. See the whole library →
The twelve axes, axis by axis
Each axis is a tension rather than a good-versus-bad choice, and a reading near the centre is not a weaker answer than one at an end.
02
Democracy (-78)
Popular rule to Expert governance
Reads toward Popular rule.
03
Economy (+56)
Planned economy to Free market
Reads toward Free market.
04
Welfare (+56)
Social provision to Self-reliance
Reads toward Self-reliance.
05
Sovereignty (+56)
Global integration to National sovereignty
Reads toward National sovereignty.
06
Force (-11)
Diplomacy to Hard power
Sits inside the centre band on this axis, so the library records no direction here.
07
Culture (+78)
Progress to Tradition
Reads toward Tradition.
08
Religion (+56)
Secular state to Religious foundation
Reads toward Religious foundation.
09
Ecology (+11)
Ecological limits to Economic growth
Sits inside the centre band on this axis, so the library records no direction here.
10
Technology (-11)
Precaution to Acceleration
Sits inside the centre band on this axis, so the library records no direction here.
11
Structure (-100)
Decentralisation to Centralisation
Reads toward Decentralisation.
12
Rights (+78)
Majority rule to Entrenched rights
Reads toward Entrenched rights.
Score meanings and pole definitions are published on the twelve axes page.
What this model describes
This entry is a model of a constitutional and civic tradition. It is not a measurement of how Swiss citizens vote, and it is not a statement about the Swiss people. The library scores the tradition from the structure of its constitution.
The constitution in force is the Federal Constitution of 18 April 1999, listed by the Constitute Project as last amended in 2014. Article 3 states that the Cantons are sovereign except to the extent that their sovereignty is limited by the Federal Constitution, and that they exercise all rights not vested in the Confederation.
Direct democracy written into the text
Two instruments in the constitution carry the popular-rule reading this profile records. Article 138 allows any 100,000 persons eligible to vote to propose a complete revision of the constitution within 18 months of the official publication of their initiative. Article 141 allows an optional referendum on federal acts if 50,000 voters, or any eight Cantons, request it within 100 days.
Article 4 names German, French, Italian and Romansh as the national languages — a reminder that the model is a union of parts rather than a single centre.
Where it sits on the twelve axes
Structure sits at the far decentralist end of its axis. Democracy leans strongly toward popular rule, and culture and rights both sit well toward their right-hand poles. Economy, welfare, sovereignty and religion lean the same way, while power leans toward civil liberty and force sits near the centre.
Closest positions in the library
Chile
Market reform now tempered by a constituent process and broader social guarantees.
Ireland
Liberal economy, religious inheritance and a written constitution with judicial review.
United States
Market primacy, entrenched constitutional rights and a federal structure with global reach.
Ordered by the same direction-only comparison the test uses to rank a profile against your answers. The library holds 28 entries in this set.
Sources
- Federal Constitution of Switzerland, 18 April 1999 (as amended 2014) — Constitute Project
- Federal Constitution of Switzerland, English translation — International Constitutional Law, University of Bern (document status 8 February 2011)
The twelve-axis vector on this page is an editorial reading of the position described, taken from the published library — not a measurement and not an endorsement.
See where you land on this profile
The entry above is one position in the library. Take the test to have your own twelve scores ranked against it, or read the definitions behind each axis first.
This page describes Switzerland. Every profile in the library is listed together on the combined library page, and every vector on it is written the same way this one is.