Switzerland: the politics of PA in a multi-party semi-direct consensus democracy

Abstract

This chapter shows to what extent the organization of the Swiss public administration depends on the country's territorial structure, its political institutions and the prevailing political values. Federalism, multiparty governments and direct democracy as well as the small size of cantons and municipalities and the bottom-up nation building shaped the state and its administration considerably. The chapter presents the structure and the organization of the administration on national level and looks at its functioning and performance. It insists on the low degree of professionalization of most parts of the administration and its accessibility for its stakeholders. Being aware that they fund the administration as well as all important policies with their taxes and decide on the most important issues by the means of direct democracy, the citizens are quite satisfied with the results. The Swiss administration is not apolitical. It is supposed to respect the division of tasks between elected representatives and highly qualified specialists from the civil service, which becomes increasingly challenging in the lights of the demands for evidence-based policy solutions in a globalized world.