What Switzerland can offer the Summit for Democracy

National Guardsmen at the Capitol in Washington on January 13, 2021, the day the impeachment of former President Donald Trump began Keystone / Shawn Thew

Switzerland will take part in the US Democracy Summit from December 8th to 10th. The small country wants to use the chance to distinguish itself internationally.

This content was posted on December 8, 2021 – 11:00 am

December 8, 2021 – 11:00

Renat Künzi

Studied history and politics at the University of Bern. Worked for Reuters, the newspapers Der Bund and the Berner Zeitung as well as the radio station Förderband. I deal with the Swiss practice of modern direct democracy in all its aspects and at all levels, with the citizen always in focus.

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The two-day summitexternal link was an election promise made by US President Joe Biden. The world’s largest economy has invited presidents, prime ministers and ambassadors from around the world. They discuss how human rights and the fight against corruption can be strengthened and how increasing autocracy and authoritarianism can be dealt with.

Russia, China, Turkey and Hungary were not invited to the summit; India, Iraq, Kosovo and Taiwan were. The conditions for participation include the commitment to take concrete measures to improve democracy at home and around the world within the next year.

The initiative goes back to last year’s US presidential election, which ended in a failed coup by supporters of former President Donald Trump. The USA then sent an important signal: The dismantling of democracy does not follow any natural law and can be stopped.

In doing so, the United States has created the positive narrative that many have longed for: that America, as the oldest and most emblematic democracy, may well have hit, but is robust enough to put an end to Trump’s attacks on fundamental values.

With this summit, Biden wants to “strengthen people’s self-determination and counter the dangers of autocracy”.

The role of Switzerland

The summit is an important event for Switzerland. It will provide a platform for the country to showcase its democratic processes. It is also an opportunity for Switzerland to put itself on the global agenda.

For Simon Geissbühlerexternal link, Head of the Human Security Department in the Swiss Foreign Ministry, the democracy summit comes at the right time.

“Switzerland doesn’t want to be just an appendage to the Biden Summit. Rather, it gives us a new impetus to bundle our previous activities on site and to contribute constructively and credibly with our model and our know-how, ”he says.

Despite its small size, Switzerland is a democratic heavyweight. However, it is better known for its security, stability, quality of life and neutrality than for its unique form of participatory democracy. The regular referendums on all sorts of social issues from the Covid law to taxes are perceived by outsiders as a curiosity.

Most people in Switzerland do not even know that the promotion of democracy is a central pillar of Swiss foreign policy within the meaning of Article 54 of the new Swiss Constitution. This has been the case since 1999. In 2003 the same article was incorporated into federal law.

This is the first time the country has put forward plans to fulfill its constitutional obligation.

However, the primary goal of Geissbühler and Guy Parmelin, who will hold the rotating Swiss presidency this year, will not be to promote Switzerland’s direct democratic practice at the summit. Rather, they focus on fundamental values ​​and institutions that are prerequisites for strong democracy around the world.

“We have a lot to offer here,” says Geissbühler. He names human rights, conflict resolution, the rule of law, protection of minorities, decentralization and local participation.

A COP process for human rights and democracy

The Summit for Democracy from December 8-10 will set in motion a process that has parallels to the global climate conferences known as the COP (Conference of the Parties). The first world summit on climate protection took place in 1992, the 26th conference recently took place in Glasgow, Scotland (COP26, read our focusexternal link).

As with the COP process, the first summit for democracy now calls on the invited states to commit themselves to concrete measures to protect human rights and democracy. The UN Charter of Universal Human Rights provides the common basis for this.

The next summit for democracy in a year’s time will report on whether and how the promised measures have been implemented.

110 countries from six continents have been invited to the first summit for democracy (see map): 39 countries from Europe, 27 from America, 21 from Oceania, 17 from Africa and six from Asia. It is noticeable that almost all countries that occupy the top positions in the leading international democracy rankings are allowed to have their say at the summit.

But there are also exceptions. For example, US President Joe Biden, who took the initiative for this conference, did not invite any moderate democratic countries such as Tunisia (42nd place in the V-Dem ranking), Burkina Faso (57th) or Lesotho (61st).

At the same time, countries that are among the most undemocratic in the world are allowed to have their say. For example, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (137th place in the V-Dem ranking), Iraq (124) and the Philippines (108).

Countries that do very poorly in the ranking were not invited, including China (174) and Russia (153). You have sharply criticized the process of the democracy summit. In a guest article in the American magazine The National Interest, the diplomats from the two superpowers Qin Gang and Anatoly Antonov described the meeting as “the product of a Cold War mentality” and emphasized that democracy “can be realized in different ways”.

(Bruno Kaufmann)

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Power sharing as a Swiss trump card

Political scientist Daniel Bochslerexternal link agrees that Switzerland can be self-confident about its competence in democracy.

“Switzerland leaves a very large footprint internationally,” says Bochsler, who teaches and researches at the Central European University in Vienna, the University of Belgrade and the Center for Democracy in Aarau.

He sees Switzerland’s greatest asset in its expertise in conflict mediation and power-sharing systems, as it is currently doing in war-torn countries such as Libya and Syria.

But it will be difficult for Switzerland to “sell” its constitution to countries that want to manage a conflict. At the summit he could explain and promote how an early mediation process can avoid an escalation of the conflict, he explains. This typically Swiss approach has enabled Switzerland to avoid international conflicts since 1519!

Bochsler cites the Swiss peace foundation Swisspeace, a research institute based in Basel, as an example of international mediation and peacebuildingexternal link which aims to promote conflict prevention and conflict transformation.

According to Bochsler, the most important instruments of Swiss democracy include broad representation of the population in parliament, the right of a minority to refer to constitutional and legislative changes, and the autonomy of linguistic and religious groups. Every national language – French, German, Italian and Romansh – is represented in the media, schools and authorities.

The foundations of Swiss democracy come from what Bochsler calls the “democratic toolbox”. For him, federalism is the “magic formula” for the stable composition of the government at all levels.

Tradition of neutrality

For Thomas Carothersexternal link, Deputy Research Director of Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, it makes sense to promote the Swiss way of mediation. This can also be a solution for countries that are currently struggling with strong political polarization and division.

“Due to its long tradition of neutrality, Switzerland makes sure that its international work does not give the appearance of taking political sides or supporting certain political systems,” he said.

“Switzerland has a lot of experience in conveying how a divided society can work together politically.”

Carothers urges the countries participating in the summit to make a serious commitment to working together in promoting democracy rather than just making elegant speeches. He says the key to an honest assessment of progress is “providing real impetus for the summit process”.

In order for the meeting to go beyond words, Washington is setting clear and binding conditions for the countries: They must commit themselves to improvements in the strengthening of human rights, the fight against corruption and autocracy. Those who fail to meet their obligations will not be included in the follow-up summit, which, according to the US administration, will take place in a year.

https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/switzerland-has-much-to-offer-joe-biden-and-the-democratic-world/47172238