Political System Switzerland and Guatemala

Political system

Switzerland and Guatemala

Switzerland has a direct democracy; this unique political system is today world’s most stable democracy system, offering a maximum of participation to citizens. (Building Democracy)

This democracy is the result of implementing the basics like decentralization of power and frequent referendums and popular initiative that were established through hard political struggle from 1798 thru 1847. The system has a lot in common with the system in other countries like U.S.A, Germany, Austria, etc. Switzerland’s political system has normal features of a modern democracy.

The national parliament meets with frequency during the year. One difference with other countries is that being a member of a parliament is not a full time job; meaning that members of parliament have to practice an ordinary job to earn their living, they are closer to everyday life. And I believe that this experience gives them the opportunity to think and know that really the citizens need, instead of being there just waiting time and money.

Doing business in Switzerland is different, rather than having big companies dominating the country, Switzerland is dominated by a limited number of large companies; instead they have abundance of medium and smaller organizations that run more like Switzerland business.

There is some criticism at the Swiss; they have a weakness in areas of strategy and business development. Amazingly, the Swiss are not as hierarchically minded as other European countries, and this could be another indication of the extremely well-established political beliefs in decentralization and delegation of authority to the masses.

Switzerland is generally one of the safer countries in the world. The homicide rate is 0.7, lower than the OECD average of 2.1 and ranking Switzerland 6th out of 36 OECD countries. People generally feel safe, measured by whether people feel safe walking alone at night. In Switzerland 77 percent felt safe, which compared favorably to the OECD average of 67 percent. The rate of assault is higher than in other countries at 4.2 percent (OECD average of 4.0 percent). This placed Switzerland 23rd out of 36 OECD countries. (expatica.com, 2013)

Guatemala

Guatemala has a presidential government system. It is a democratic country and political parties are numerous and unstable; not a single political party has ever won the presidency more than once. And every election period, most parties are formed by small groups or brand new.

Every four years there is an election for President, congress and local officials. Comparing Guatemala and Switzerland there is a big difference in the way each country is run by, in one, citizens have participation and things run very smooth, in Guatemala, the president and congress have all the power,