A Sustainable Democracy with a Future

11 January 2025

Amid authoritarian monarchies, 22 (25) cantons in central Europe, with a desire for freedom, founded a democratic state in 1848. Modern Switzerland emerged from the old Confederation, laying the foundations for an unprecedented economic boom.

In the German-language publication, the author demonstrates what is required to establish a liberal democracy founded on the rule of law. However, he also points out that a liberal society cannot be taken for granted.

The commitment of citizens nurtures it. Although democracies are under pressure worldwide, Switzerland serves as an example of building and sustaining a liberal, democratic, and prosperous society, partly through direct democracy, which is not an outdated but a modern and visionary concept.

(Thomas Lötscher, Demokratie mit Zukunft, Die Erschaffung der modernen Schweiz.) Thun, 2022)