1.
Geneva
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Geneva is the second most populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Situated where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the capital of the Republic, the municipality has a population of 198,072, and the canton has 484,736 residents. In 2014, the compact agglomération du Grand Genève had 946,000 inhabitants in 212 communities in both Switzerland and France, within Swiss territory, the commuter area named Métropole lémanique contains a population of 1.25 million. This area is essentially spread east from Geneva towards the Riviera area and north-east towards Yverdon-les-Bains, Geneva is the city that hosts the highest number of international organizations in the world. It is also the place where the Geneva Conventions were signed, Geneva was ranked as the worlds ninth most important financial centre for competitiveness by the Global Financial Centres Index, ahead of Frankfurt, and third in Europe behind London and Zürich. A2009 survey by Mercer found that Geneva has the third-highest quality of life of any city in the world, the city has been referred to as the worlds most compact metropolis and the Peace Capital. In 2009 and 2011, Geneva was ranked as, respectively, the city was mentioned in Latin texts, by Caesar, with the spelling Genava, probably from a Celtic toponym *genawa- from the stem *genu-, in the sense of a bending river or estuary. The medieval county of Geneva in Middle Latin was known as pagus major Genevensis or Comitatus Genevensis, the name takes various forms in modern languages, Geneva /dʒᵻˈniːvə/ in English, French, Genève, German, Genf, Italian, Ginevra, and Romansh, Genevra. The city in origin shares its name, *genawa estuary, with the Italian port city of Genoa, Geneva was an Allobrogian border town, fortified against the Helvetii tribe, when the Romans took it in 121 BC. It became Christian under the Late Roman Empire, and acquired its first bishop in the 5th century, having been connected to the bishopric of Vienne in the 4th. In the Middle Ages, Geneva was ruled by a count under the Holy Roman Empire until the late 14th century, around this time the House of Savoy came to dominate the city. In the 15th century, a republican government emerged with the creation of the Grand Council. In 1541, with Protestantism in the ascendancy, John Calvin, by the 18th century, however, Geneva had come under the influence of Catholic France, which cultivated the city as its own. France also tended to be at odds with the ordinary townsfolk, in 1798, revolutionary France under the Directory annexed Geneva. At the end of the Napoleonic Wars, on 1 June 1814, in 1907, the separation of Church and State was adopted. Geneva flourished in the 19th and 20th centuries, becoming the seat of international organizations. Geneva is located at 46°12 North, 6°09 East, at the end of Lake Geneva. It is surrounded by two chains, the Alps and the Jura
2.
Switzerland
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Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a federal republic in Europe. It consists of 26 cantons, and the city of Bern is the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in western-Central Europe, and is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland is a country geographically divided between the Alps, the Swiss Plateau and the Jura, spanning an area of 41,285 km2. The establishment of the Old Swiss Confederacy dates to the medieval period, resulting from a series of military successes against Austria. Swiss independence from the Holy Roman Empire was formally recognized in the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. The country has a history of armed neutrality going back to the Reformation, it has not been in a state of war internationally since 1815, nevertheless, it pursues an active foreign policy and is frequently involved in peace-building processes around the world. In addition to being the birthplace of the Red Cross, Switzerland is home to international organisations. On the European level, it is a member of the European Free Trade Association. However, it participates in the Schengen Area and the European Single Market through bilateral treaties, spanning the intersection of Germanic and Romance Europe, Switzerland comprises four main linguistic and cultural regions, German, French, Italian and Romansh. Due to its diversity, Switzerland is known by a variety of native names, Schweiz, Suisse, Svizzera. On coins and stamps, Latin is used instead of the four living languages, Switzerland is one of the most developed countries in the world, with the highest nominal wealth per adult and the eighth-highest per capita gross domestic product according to the IMF. Zürich and Geneva have each been ranked among the top cities in the world in terms of quality of life, with the former ranked second globally, according to Mercer. The English name Switzerland is a compound containing Switzer, a term for the Swiss. The English adjective Swiss is a loan from French Suisse, also in use since the 16th century. The name Switzer is from the Alemannic Schwiizer, in origin an inhabitant of Schwyz and its associated territory, the Swiss began to adopt the name for themselves after the Swabian War of 1499, used alongside the term for Confederates, Eidgenossen, used since the 14th century. The data code for Switzerland, CH, is derived from Latin Confoederatio Helvetica. The toponym Schwyz itself was first attested in 972, as Old High German Suittes, ultimately related to swedan ‘to burn’
3.
Swiss Federal Council
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While the entire council is responsible for leading the federal administration of Switzerland, each Councillor heads one of the seven federal executive departments. The position of Federal President rotates among the seven Councillors on a yearly basis, when the Constitution was written, constitutional democracy was still in its infancy, and the founding fathers of Switzerland had little in the way of examples. While they drew heavily on the U. S, Constitution for the organisation of the federal state as a whole, they opted for the collegial rather than the presidential system for the executive branch of government. This accommodated the long tradition of the rule of collective bodies in Switzerland, today, only three other states, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Andorra and San Marino, have collective rather than unitary heads of state. However the collegial system of government has found widespread adoption in modern democracies in the form of government with collective responsibility. Nonetheless, some significant developments deserve to be mentioned here, the 1848 Constitution was one of the few successes of the Europe-wide democratic revolutions of 1848. In Switzerland, the movement was led – and the new federal state decisively shaped – by the Radicals. After winning the Sonderbund War against the Catholic cantons, the Radicals at first used their majority in the Federal Assembly to fill all the seats on the Federal Council and this made their former war opponents, the Catholic-Conservatives, the opposition party. Only after Emil Weltis resignation in 1891 after a referendum on railway nationalisation did the Radicals decide to co-opt the Conservatives by supporting the election of Josef Zemp. The process of involving all political movements of Switzerland into the responsibility of government continued during the first half of the 20th century. It was hastened by the FDPs and CVPs gradually diminishing voter shares and these were the Social Democratic Party on the Left and the Party of Farmers, Traders and Independents on the Right. In due course, the CVP received its seat in 1919 with Jean-Marie Musy. In 1943, during World War II, the Social Democrats were also included with Ernst Nobs. During that time, the FDP and CVP very slowly but steadily kept losing voter share to the SVP and SP, respectively, which overtook the older parties in popularity during the 1990s. The governmental balance was changed after the 2003 elections, when the SVP was granted a Council seat for their leader Christoph Blocher that had belonged to the CVPs Ruth Metzler. This led to a split of the SVP in 2008, the SVP regained its second seat on the Council in 2015, when Widmer-Schlumpf decided to resign after the SVPs large election gains in the 2015 election, being replaced by Guy Parmelin. Women gained suffrage on the level in 1971. They remained unrepresented in the Federal Council for three legislatures, until the 1984 election of Elisabeth Kopp
4.
Versoix
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Versoix is a municipality in the Canton of Geneva, Switzerland, which sits on the right bank of Lac Léman. It is the last town of the Canton of Geneva on the road northeast towards Lausanne and it is a train stop on the Swiss Federal Railways line running between Coppet and Geneva. On the Vaud side, the village is called Mies. The distance from the centre of Geneva is about 10 km, Versoix has an area, as of 2009, of 10.51 square kilometers. Of this area,3.06 km2 or 29. 1% is used for agricultural purposes, while 4 km2 or 38. 1% is forested. Of the rest of the land,3.4 km2 or 32. 4% is settled,0.08 km2 or 0. 8% is either rivers or lakes and 0.01 km2 or 0. 1% is unproductive land. Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 19. 4%, while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 2. 8%. Out of the land,36. 1% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2. 0% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land,23. 1% is used for growing crops and 3. 5% is pastures, of the water in the municipality,0. 4% is in lakes and 0. 4% is in rivers and streams. Versoix has a population of 13,263, as of 2008,41. 7% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has changed at a rate of 23. 3% and it has changed at a rate of 19% due to migration and at a rate of 5. 8% due to births and deaths. Most of the population speaks French, with English being second most common, There are 281 people who speak Italian and 3 people who speak Romansh. As of 2008, the distribution of the population was 48. 3% male and 51. 7% female. The population was made up of 3,465 Swiss men and 2,831 non-Swiss men, There were 4,013 Swiss women and 2,713 non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality 1,979 or about 19. 2% were born in Versoix and lived there in 2000. There were 1,978 or 19. 2% who were born in the canton, while 1,603 or 15. 5% were born somewhere else in Switzerland. In 2008 there were 75 live births to Swiss citizens and 54 births to non-Swiss citizens, ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens increased by 18 while the foreign population increased by 44. There were 39 Swiss men and 40 Swiss women who emigrated from Switzerland, at the same time, there were 124 non-Swiss men and 94 non-Swiss women who immigrated from another country to Switzerland
5.
National Council (Switzerland)
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The National Council is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Switzerland, the upper house being the Council of States. With 200 seats, the National Council is the larger of the two houses, adult citizens elect the councils members, who are called National Councillors for four year terms. These members are apportioned to the Swiss cantons in proportion to their population, both houses meet in the Federal Palace of Switzerland in Berne. With 200 members, the National Council is the house of the Swiss legislature. When the Swiss federation was founded in 1848, the number of seats was not yet fixed, according to the provisions of the federal constitution at that time, a canton was to receive one National Council member for every 20,000 citizens. Thus, the first National Council, which met in 1848, had 111 members, in 1963, the number of members was fixed at 200. The division of the seats between the individual cantons is determined by each percentage of the national population, as revealed in the national census. A change in the division of the seats occurred in 2003, every canton is entitled to at least one seat in the National Council. Elections are held for the National Council every four years by the Swiss people, the most recent election took place on Sunday,18 October 2015. Since a popular initiative in 1918, elections have been by proportional representation, since 1971 women have been entitled to vote and stand in National Council elections. There is a proviso that each canton is entitled to at least one seat, the number of seats given to the cantons which are entitled to more than one seat is determined using the largest remainder method. Cantons which can are only entitled to send one councillor to the National Council, the cantons use a unique system of proportional representation, sometimes called a free list. Each citizen may cast as many votes as there are available to their constituency. For every vote received by a candidate, that candidates party also receives a vote, voters also list a party vote, in which all blank candidate votes contribute towards the parties total. In elections, political parties publish lists in the cantons with their candidates, each list contains at most the number of candidates which the canton is entitled to send to the National Council. It is possible for one or more candidates to be listed twice, in addition, each party can produce multiple lists to the canton. It is also possible for parties to enter a single shared list. Voters are entitled to choose a party list without making changes or they can alter it by cumulative voting or panachage
6.
Historical Dictionary of Switzerland
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The encyclopedia is published by a foundation under the patronage of the Swiss Academy of Humanities and Social Sciences and the Swiss Historical Society and is financed by national research grants. Besides a staff of 35 at the offices, the contributors include 100 academic advisors,2500 historians and 100 translators. The encyclopedia is being edited simultaneously in three languages of Switzerland, German, French and Italian. The first of 13 volumes was published in 2002, the last volume was published in 2014. The 36,000 headings are grouped in, Biographies Articles on families and it makes accessible, for free, all articles ready for publication in print, but no illustrations. It also lists all 36,000 topics that are to be covered, lexicon Istoric Retic is a two volume version with a selection of articles published in Romansh. It includes articles not available in the other languages, the first volume was published in 2010, the second in 2012. An on-line version is also available
7.
Numa Droz
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Numa Droz was a Swiss politician and member of the Swiss Federal Council. Born in La Chaux-de-Fonds, he was elected to government of Neuchâtel in 1871. On 18 December 1875, he was elected to the Swiss Federal Council and he was affiliated to the Free Democratic Party of Switzerland. He was elected President of Switzerland in 1881 and 1887, Droz has been described as a man of progress and one of Switzerlands major political figures. He was a democrat who clashed with Bismarck over a police spying case. In La Chaux-de-Fonds a street and in Neuchâtel a square are named after him, a statue by Charles lEplattenier which was erected by the station is at present being renovated and will be placed on Rue Numa-Droz in the autumn of 2012. Numa Droz, Souvenirs dun vieux montagnard, lebet,1884 Numa Droz, Études et portraits politiques, C. Eggimann, F. Alcan,1895 Numa Droz, Le rachat des chemins de fer suisses, Bâle et Genève, Georg,1898 Numa Droz, Essais économiques, Genève, eggimann,1906 Profile of Numa Droz with election results on the website of the Swiss Federal Council. Numa Droz in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland, biography of Numa Droz on the website of the Swiss Parliament
8.
Council of States (Switzerland)
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The Council of States is the smaller chamber of the Federal Assembly of Switzerland, and is considered the Assemblys upper house, with the National Council being the lower house. Twenty of the cantons are represented by two Councillors each. Six cantons, traditionally called half cantons, are represented by one Councillor each for historical reasons and these are Obwalden, Nidwalden, Basel-Stadt, Basel-Landschaft, Appenzell Ausserrhoden and Appenzell Innerrhoden. The Councillors serve for four years, and are not bound in their vote to instructions from the cantonal authorities. Under the Swiss Federal Constitution, the mode of election to the Council of States is left to the cantons, all cantons now provide for the Councillors to be chosen by popular election, however those eligible to vote varies according to the applicable cantonal law. In all cantons except for Appenzell Innerrhoden, the Councillors are elected concurrently with the members of the National Council, in the canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden the representative is elected by the physically convened popular assembly the April prior to the national vote. In debates, councilors can choose any of the languages, usually the one he is most proficient with, German, French, Italian. German and French are frequently used, the Council of States represents the federal nature of Switzerland, seats are distributed by state, not by population. Most cantons send 2 representatives, while the historic half-cantons, Appenzell Ausserrhoden, Appenzell Innerrhoden, Obwalden, Nidwalden, Basel-Stadt and Basel-Landshaft, each send one. Consequently, the number of people represented by a seat in the Council of State varies by a factor of 40. Notes, ¹ Population data from 2015, ² Relative representation compared to Zürich
9.
Federal Department of Foreign Affairs
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The Department is always headed by one of the members of the Swiss Federal Council. As of 2012, the department is headed by Federal Councillor Didier Burkhalter and it does so by means of Swiss Foreign Policy, whose objectives have been laid down in Art. Originally it was the rotating Swiss President who headed the Political Department for a one-year term, in 1888, the Department was restructured by Numa Droz, who straight away headed the Department for five years. In 1896, the Federal council returned to the system with a Federal Councillor heading the Department only for a given one-year term. The one-year limitation was abandoned in 1914
10.
President of the Swiss Confederation
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The President of the Confederation is the presiding member of the seven-member Swiss Federal Council, Switzerlands executive. Elected by the Federal Assembly for one year, the President of the Confederation chairs the meetings of the Federal Council, primus inter pares, the President has no powers over and above the other six Councillors and continues to head her/his department. Traditionally the duty rotates among the members in order of seniority, as first among equals, the Federal Council member serving as President of the Confederation is not considered the Swiss head of state. Rather, the entire Federal Council is considered a head of state. Article 176 specifically relates to the Presidency, when a tied vote occurs in the council, the President – as the chair of the council – casts the deciding vote. In addition to the control of his or her own Department, at first this was only the case inside Switzerland, where the President also often travels abroad, previously, the head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs handled most of those visits. However, because the Swiss have no head of state. When traveling abroad, the President does so only in their capacity as head of their department, visiting heads of state are received by the seven members of the Federal Council together, rather than by the President of the Confederation. Treaties are signed on behalf of the full Council, with all Federal Council members signing letters of credence, the President is elected by the Federal Assembly from the Federal Council for a term of one year. In the nineteenth century, the election as Federal President was an award for especially esteemed Federal Council members, however, a few influential members of the government were regularly passed over. One such example was Wilhelm Matthias Naeff, who – although a member of the Federal Council for 27 years – was Federal President only once, since the twentieth century, the election has usually not been disputed. There is a rule that the member of the Federal Council who has not been Federal President the longest becomes President. Therefore, every Federal Council member gets a turn at least once every seven years, the only question in the elections that provides some tension is the question of how many votes the person who is to be elected President receives. This is seen as a popularity test, in the 1970s and 1980s,200 votes was seen as an excellent result, but in the current era of growing party-political conflicts,180 votes are a respectable outcome. Until 1920, it was customary for the serving Federal President to also lead the Department of Foreign Affairs, therefore, every year there was a moving around of posts, as the retiring President returned to his former department and the new president took up the Foreign Affairs portfolio. Likewise, it was traditional for the Federal President not to leave Switzerland during his year in office, list of Presidents of the Swiss Confederation Official website President of the Confederation in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland
