The Swiss system of government is, in my opinion, one of the best in the world. Firstly, they have the closest thing to direct democracy that there is. If the government wants to pass a law, the people have 100 days to find 50,000 signatures on a petition if they want the new law not to be enacted. If they find the 50,000 signatures, a referendum is forced and the result is decisive and binding over that particular law. The executive branch is also very interesting. Basically there’s a federal council of government, which is made up of 7 people selected by the federal legislature (which would be parliament in our case). This is a multi-party body of equals, and each year the presidency of the body (which in effect is Switzerland’s head of state) moves on to another member. So Switzerland has a new president each year, but that president will be from a set group of 7 “councillors”.

Although imperfect, we already have a form of government in the UK which is similar. Our cabinet system is based on the old Privy Council – the council of the Monarch’s advisers. Cabinet government means collective responsibility for the decisions taken, although the collectiveness has waxed and waned with various prime ministers over the decades. What if we implemented a system like the Swiss, where we make Cabinet a permanently multi-party group of people selected by Parliament, where each member gets a six year term or something like that, and the head rotates? This would knock politicians’ heads together and mean that the work they do is on behalf of the nation rather than with an eye on getting another term as prime minister. We would stagger the elections also so that the body is refreshed over time rather than en masse. So every three years, half of the body would come up for re-election. This would mean that the body would have a certain level of continuity regardless of who is on it, and it’s institutional memory would be fresh.

We would never other measures, like plebiscites and binding petitions and referenda to go with this, as in effect “the people” would become the opposition. Also, any wholesale reform would need with it a huge programme of civic education for young and old, so the population fully understands what the new system means, and how they can be guarded against certain agendas (I’m thinking the media for one).

This is really blue-sky thinking, I know that. It would probably never happen, and who knows what the consequences would be. Besides, we don’t half love our status-quo in this country! But it’s an interesting thought none the less.

Have a look here for more information:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_Switzerland