The founder of direct democracy

23 March 2023

On March 6, 1866, Ignaz Paul Vital Troxler, one of the founders of modern Switzerland, passed away. He was born in Beromünster in 1780. At the age of nineteen, he left his post in the Napoleonic administration of the Helvetic Republic (1798-1803) to study in Jena.

He was successful in ophthalmology in Göttingen. However, his republican and liberal sentiments were unwanted after 1815. Troxler wanted the (political) establishment to recognise what the citizens want and what concerns them.

Geneva, 25 September 2022, the national optional referendum.

Politicians must remain in permanent (critical) dialogue with them and give them the last word. That is how Ignaz Troxler formulated and shaped the Swiss direct democracy and political style. His thinking remains topical in Switzerland and beyond.