Militia System

Last updated
Various types of militia commitment (civil protection, army, other) Miliz-DDPS.png
Various types of militia commitment (civil protection, army, other)

The militia system, also known as the militia principle, is a common organizational principle in Swiss public life. [1] In the Swiss model of society, the militia system forms a central pillar alongside direct democracy, federalism and concordance. [2]

Contents

In practice, it encompasses political and military affairs, and extends to other areas of general interest, such as communal tasks or disaster management.

Notion

The militia principle is based on the republican idea that capable citizens should take on public duties and tasks in an extra-professional and honorary capacity (ehrenamtlich). [1] Militia involvement thus constitutes temporary, part-time or voluntary service to the community. [3]

From the perspective of the democratic ideal, popular sovereignty thus encompasses not only participation in decision-making on public affairs (self-determination), but also in their execution (self-management).

The militia principle is a maxim of public organization which, like the principle of democracy, is not exhaustively codified. It is a constitutive principle of the state (staatstragendes Prinzip). [3]

At federal and constitutional level, however, the militia principle is derived from the principle of subsidiarity (art. 5a of the Federal Constitution [4] ), from the call for individual and social responsibility (art. 6 Federal Constitution [5] ), and is explicitly enshrined in the organization of the army in art. 58 para. 1 Federal Constitution. [6]

Distinction from voluntary work

Militia activity differs from voluntary activity mainly in its degree of institutionalization: militia activity is always carried out in a field recognized by law as being of public interest, and in a special legal relationship with the public community.

In practice, however, there are many overlaps between voluntary and militia activity.

Origins of the militia system

Country parish saber as a symbol of military capability: "Citoyen-soldat" (Citizen-soldier) Mit Sabel zur Landsgemeinde.JPG
Country parish saber as a symbol of military capability: "Citoyen-soldat" (Citizen-soldier)

The term "militia" derives from the Latin root militia (domain of war, military service).

Historically, the militia principle is based on the idea of the citizen-soldier, which originated in Antiquity and was reappropriated in modern times, particularly during the French Revolution. [7]

In Athenian democracy and the early Roman Republic, the term was also used to designate the exercise of civil office. Free landowners, who were able to defend themselves independently, pooled their efforts and responsibilities in the people's assembly to guarantee the sovereignty of their lands.

Expansion into the political realm took place during the Ancien Régime period. The right to participate in community decisions went hand in hand with the duty to defend it. [8] [9]

In Switzerland, militia spirit, as individual responsibility towards the group, was a long-standing tradition, introduced to the population of rural communities and confederal regions in the late Middle Ages, as witnessed by the Federal Charter of 1291. At that time, mutual aid was widespread in the form of various cooperative organizations, and echoed the Christian duty of assistance (Caritas).

Swiss Enlightenment pioneers (e.g. Béat Louis de Muralt, Isaac Iselin) established that courage, frugality, mutual aid, confidence in one's own judgment and rejection of worldly artifice were essential republican values for building a national consciousness and a communalist state structure in Switzerland. As early as 1830, the militia system was enshrined in the cantonal constitutions, particularly in favor of the communes and their autonomy. [9] [10]

Application of the militia principle

In organizational terms, the militia principle is implemented through voluntary service on the one hand, and the obligation to serve (Dienstpflicht) on the other.

According to the Federal Court, the militia principle could not be implemented without general conscription, and the obligation to serve is therefore the necessary complement to the militia principle. [11]

Volunteer militia

Voluntary militia activities are numerous in Swiss public life, reflecting their essential role in the federalist model of direct democracy.

Political authorities

At cantonal and communal level, militiamen and women form the legislative body, sometimes even the executive authority in smaller communes.

At federal level, the Federal Assembly is also known as the "militia parliament". In practice, however, this assertion is undermined.

Most members of the Federal Assembly, i.e. Switzerland's two legislative chambers (National Council and Council of States), have a job in addition to their parliamentary activity, as do members of parliament at cantonal and communal level. However, recent studies show that only just over 10% of National Council members devote less than a third of their working time to a parliamentary mandate, and can therefore be described as "parliamentary militiamen" in the strict sense. This category has now de facto disappeared completely in the Council of States: the majority of members devote more than two-thirds of their working time to a parliamentary mandate. Federal legislative power is therefore a mixture of militia activity and professional politics. [12]

Administrative authorities

The Competition Commission (COMCO) is a federal militia authority, [13] responsible for the enforcement of Swiss competition law, and consists of a college of twelve people, acting on a militia basis.

Community life

In the communes, and more so in the smaller ones, most official offices (school maintenance, social services, audit commission, civil engineering and works commission, building commission, property commission, culture commission, landscaping concept commission, electoral office, etc.) are carried out by militia authorities. In 2019, there were around 100,000 people directly involved in local political life, i.e. almost 1 in 50 eligible voters. [2]

Mandatory militia

On the federal level

Mandatory militia refers to the male military service obligation (art. 58 para. 1 [14] in conjunction with art. 59 para. 1 of the Federal Constitution [15] ) and, by extension, to the alternative services to military service, i.e. civil service (for conscripts who are fit for the army but conscientious objectors) and civil protection (for conscripts who are unfit for the army).

The Swiss army is made up of soldiers and officers with civilian occupations who are called up for military service on a weekly basis or in block for a certain number of years. Switzerland does not have a standing army in peacetime, as troops are mainly called up for training purposes. [3]

At cantonal and municipal level

Militia activities are compulsory in Swiss cantons and municipalities, for example:

In such cases, the obligation to serve generally extends to all residents of a certain age group, whether male or female, Swiss or foreign.

Difficulties

Militia activity remains important in Switzerland. However, there are many shortcomings in terms of both quantity and quality, for example among volunteer firefighters [23] or in communal mandates. [24]

Voluntary, extra-professional and honorary responsibility for public tasks and duties is generally not, or only partially, remunerated. Where militia activity is replaced by professionalization (external evaluation of schools, child and adult protection authorities, etc.), costs are several times higher and social acceptance is lower, because the militia is rooted in the population.

Municipal mergers also have a negative impact on militia involvement, as people feel less attached to the new, larger communities, and therefore feel less responsible for them.

Proposed solutions

Militia work year

The Association of Swiss Communes is determined to strengthen the militia system so that it remains sustainable, because the political system in Switzerland lives, at every level, on the participation and commitment of its citizens: it declared 2019 the "Year of Militia Work". [25] To this end, platforms were created to provide and receive impetus, in a transdisciplinary and participatory approach.

Citizen service

On April 26, 2022, a federal popular initiative was launched by the association servicecitoyen.ch with a view to introducing citizen service, i.e. an obligation to serve in the army, civil protection or civilian service for any person of nationality, to replace the military and male obligation to serve. [26] The aim of this project was to further develop the militia system and revitalize its spirit, beyond military service.

See also

In general

Related Research Articles

The Swiss Armed Forces operates on land and in the air, serving as the primary armed forces of Switzerland. Under the country's militia system, regular soldiers constitute a small part of the military and the rest are conscripts or volunteers aged 19 to 34. Because of Switzerland's long history of neutrality, the Swiss Armed Forces do not take part in conflicts in other countries, but do participate in international peacekeeping missions. Switzerland is part of the NATO Partnership for Peace programme.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cantons of Switzerland</span> Member states of the Swiss Confederation

The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the member states of the Swiss Confederation. The nucleus of the Swiss Confederacy in the form of the first three confederate allies used to be referred to as the Waldstätte. Two important periods in the development of the Old Swiss Confederacy are summarized by the terms Acht Orte and Dreizehn Orte.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canton of Solothurn</span> Canton of Switzerland

The canton of Solothurn or canton of Soleure is a canton of Switzerland. It is located in the northwest of Switzerland. The capital is Solothurn.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flag of Switzerland</span> National flag

The national flag of Switzerland displays a white cross in the center of a square red field. The white cross is known as the Swiss cross or the federal cross. Its arms are equilateral, and their ratio of length to width is 7:6. The size of the cross in relation to the field was set in 2017 as 5:8. Alongside the flag of Vatican City, the Swiss flag is one of only two square national flags in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Municipalities of Switzerland</span> Smallest government division in Switzerland

Municipalities are the lowest level of administrative division in Switzerland. Each municipality is part of one of the Swiss cantons, which form the Swiss Confederation. In most cantons, municipalities are also part of districts or other sub-cantonal administrative divisions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Firearms regulation in Switzerland</span>

Firearms regulation in Switzerland allows the acquisition of semi-automatic, and – with a may-issue permit – fully automatic firearms, by Swiss citizens and foreigners with or without permanent residence. The laws pertaining to the acquisition of firearms in Switzerland are amongst the most liberal in the world. Swiss gun laws are primarily about the acquisition of arms, and not ownership. As such a license is not required to own a gun by itself, but a shall-issue permit is required to purchase most types of firearms. Bolt-action rifles, break-actions and hunting rifles do not require an acquisition permit, and can be acquired with just a background check. An explicit reason must be submitted to be issued an acquisition permit for handguns or semi-automatics unless the reason is sport-shooting, hunting or collecting. Permits for concealed carrying in public are issued sparingly. The acquisition of fully automatic weapons, suppressors and target lasers requires special permits issued by the cantonal firearms office. Police use of hollow point ammunition is limited to special situations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swiss nationality law</span>

Swiss citizenship is the status of being a citizen of Switzerland and it can be obtained by birth or naturalisation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swiss Federal Constitution</span> Constitution of the Swiss Confederation

The Federal Constitution of the Swiss Confederation of 18 April 1999 is the third and current federal constitution of Switzerland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Civil conscription</span> Compulsory non-military labor service

Civil conscription is the obligation of civilians to perform mandatory labour for the government. This kind of work has to correspond with the exceptions in international agreements, otherwise it could fall under the category of unfree labour. There are two basic kinds of civil conscriptions. On the one hand, a compulsory service can be ordered on a temporary basis during wartimes and other times of emergency, like severe economic crisis or extraordinary natural events to provide basic services to the population. These include, but are not limited to, medical care, food supplies, defense industry supplies or cleanup efforts, following a severe weather or environmental disaster for the duration of the emergency. Therefore, it generally makes striking illegal for the duration of the civil mobilization. On the other hand, a revolving mandatory service may be required for a longer period of time, for example, to ensure community fire protection or to carry out infrastructure work at a local or community level.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Federal Statistical Office (Switzerland)</span> Switzerlands national competence centre for official statistics

The Federal Statistical Office (FSO) is a Federal agency of the Swiss Confederation. It is the statistics office of Switzerland, situated in Neuchâtel and attached to the Federal Department of Home Affairs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Law of Switzerland</span>

Swiss law is a set of rules which constitutes the law in Switzerland.

A mandatory referendum, also known as an obligatory referendum, is a referendum that is legally required to be held under specific circumstances. This is in contrast to an optional referendum, which comes from either by public or legislative request. The actions that require mandatory referendums are set by law and normally concern major governmental actions or matters of large public significance. The most commonly found example worldwide of a mandatory referendum is a required referendum to adopt or amend a national constitution, which exists in many countries.

In Switzerland a distinction is made between Social assistance in the broader sense and social assistance in the narrower sense.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Disability Discrimination Act (Switzerland)</span> Swiss law prohibiting discrimination against people with disabilities

The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) (German: Behindertengleichstellungsgesetz, BehiG, French: Loi sur l’égalité pour les handicapés, LHand, Italian: Legge sui disabili, LDis), is a Swiss federal law that prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities. It also establishes the Federal Bureau for the Equality of Persons with Disabilities.

In Switzerland, a federal act is a legislative law adopted at the level of the Confederation. By default, its duration of application is unlimited. It takes precedence over cantonal and communal law.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Political rights act (Switzerland)</span> Swiss law regulating the exercise of political rights in Switzerland

The Political Rights Act (PRA) (German: Bundesgesetz über die politischen Rechte, BPR, French: Loi fédérale sur les droits politiques, LDP, Italian: Legge federale sui diritti politici, LDP), is a Swiss federal law that regulates the exercise of political rights (votations and elections) in Switzerland. The law was adopted on 17 December 1976 by the Federal Assembly and came into force on 1 July 1978.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Epidemics Act</span> Federal act of the Swiss Confederation

Epidemics Act,EpidA(German: Epidemiengesetz; also known as Federal Act on the Control of Communicable Human Diseases) is a Swiss federal act designed to protect people from infections and to prevent and control the outbreak and spread of communicable diseases. The current version of the Epidemics Act is the result of the revision of September 28, 2012. The revision was necessary because the environment in which communicable diseases occur and pose a threat to public health has changed, and the law needed to be adapted accordingly.

Schubert practice, also known as the Schubert jurisprudence, is a partially abandoned legal doctrine in Swiss law manifested in a series of decisions of the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland, according to which provisions of domestic law have practical primacy over otherwise binding, but conflicting, provisions of international law as long as the former are lex posterior – even if the latter are lex specialis – based on a generalized hypothesis that a posterior act of the legislator whereby an existing act of international law has been contradicted was, in reality, a conscious, albeit implicit, act of abrogation. As an immediate consequence, when the doctrine is applied, international law is violated.

In Switzerland, spatial planning is the sum total of public policies concerning land use, the organization of the built environment, and the distribution of facilities and activities throughout the geographical space. Given the country's small size, this is an important issue that has been part of the political debate since the 1930s.

References

  1. 1 2 "Milice, système de". hls-dhs-dss.ch (in French). Retrieved 2021-02-07.
  2. 1 2 Markus Freitag, Pirmin Bundi, Martina Flick Witzig: Milizarbeit in der Schweiz. Zahlen und Fakten zum politischen Leben in der Gemeinde. NZZ Libro, Zürich 2019, ISBN   978-3-03810-400-1.
  3. 1 2 3 Gerhard M. Saladin (2012). Der verfassungsrechtliche Grundsatz des Milizprinzips der Schweizer Armee (in German). Zurich / St. Gall: Dike Verlag AG. p. 12 ss. ISBN   978-3-03751-462-7.
  4. ↑ art. 5a Cst. féd.
  5. ↑ art. 6 Cst. féd.
  6. ↑ art. 58 al. 1 Cst. féd.
  7. ↑ Thomas HIPPLER (January 2001). "Service militaire et intégration nationale pendant la Révolution française" (PDF). Retrieved 7 February 2021.
  8. ↑ PD-icon.svg This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Department of Homeland Security .
  9. 1 2 swissworld.org, a publication of Presence Switzerland PRS, an official body of the Swiss Confederation.
  10. ↑ René Roca: Die Ursprünge des Milizsystems: Milizsystem der Schweiz - ein historischer Abriss. Fachartikel aus «Schweizer Gemeinde» 5/2019
  11. ↑ Tribunal Fédéral (21 January 2010). "arrêt 2C_221/2009 du 21 janvier 2010, consid. 7.1, avec références citées". bger.ch (in German). Retrieved 7 February 2021.
  12. ↑ "Parlement de milice". Lexique du Parlement. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
  13. ↑ concurrence, Commission de la. "Commission". www.weko.admin.ch (in French). Retrieved 2021-09-22.
  14. ↑ art. 58 al. 1
  15. ↑ art. 59 al. 1 Cst. féd.
  16. ↑ § 40, Gesetz über den Feuerschutz (ZG) of December 15, 1994 (established on December 1, 2009); RS 722.21.
  17. ↑ Art. 34, Gesetz über den Feuerschutz of June 19, 1968 (as of January 1, 2017), RS 871.1
  18. ↑ § 101, Gesetz über den Feuerschutz of November 5, 1957 (as of June 1, 2013), RS 740
  19. ↑ § 29, Gesetz über den Feuerschutz of September 11, 2019 (as of January 1, 2021 2013), RS 708.1
  20. ↑ Art. 25, Loi sur le service de défense contre l'incendie et de secours of October 18, 2000, RS 875.1
  21. ↑ Art. 70, Loi sur l'assurance immobilière, la prévention et les secours en matière de feu et d'éléments naturels of September 9, 2016 (as of July 1, 2021), RS 732.1.1.
  22. ↑ La Liberté (24 April 2015). "Tous réunis autour de la pioche". lalibert.ch (in French). Retrieved 7 February 2021.
  23. ↑ "Les pompiers volontaires, une institution qui cherche la relève". 30 August 2019.
  24. ↑ "Le système de milice aurait besoin d'une cure radicale". Avenir Suisse (in French). 2015-03-19. Retrieved 2021-02-08.
  25. ↑ Schweizer Gemeindeverband: 2019 Jahr der Milizarbeit (in German)
  26. ↑ "Une initiative souhaite créer un service citoyen pour toutes et tous" (in French). 26 April 2022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.