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Comparative Politics and Government

Notes strengthened by the creation of new sources of revenue. The factors of economic depression and
demand for ever-increasing social services have played their part, but the factor of war has been
very potent in this regard. During the second World War, the federal government was empowered
to levy even direct taxes and excise duty, though the cantons received a share of revenue from
these sources. Thus the augmentation of these federal powers “has necessarily exalted the prestige
and influence of the government of the Confederation at the expense of the separate cantons.”
If the Swiss federal system is compared with the federal system of the United States, three leading
points of difference arise. First, in Switzerland the spheres of central and cantonal governments
have not been divided into water-tight compartments. For instance, the cantons execute the laws
of the Federal Assembly and cantonal authorities assist the federal government in various matters
of national administration. The cantonal governments organise courts, appoint judges and lay
down the procedure to be followed in cases of settlement of disputes and through these agencies
the laws made by the Centre are enforced. The federal government guarantees to the cantons their
territories, constitutions and sovereignty within specified limits. Third, since the Swiss Federal
Tribunal, unlike the American Supreme Court, has no power of judicial review over federal
legislation, the position of cantons in Switzerland has grown weaker than that of the United
States. Obviously, the Swiss cantons cannot defend themselves from the onslaughts of central
legislation.
Self-Assessment

1. Choose the correct options:
(i) A liberal democratic system has now come into being after the disintegration of the Union
of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in ............... .
(a) 1991 (b) 1982 (c) 1990 (d) 1989
(ii) Great Revolution of France took place in ............... .
(a) 1789 (b) 1788 (c) 1779 (d) 1899
(iii) The age of Tudor despotism ended with the golden age of ............... .
(a) Queen Elizabeth II (b) James I
(c) Queen Elizabeth I (d) None of these
(iv) The Philadelphia convention met on ............... with a mind to suitably revise the Articles
of the confederation.
(a) 25th May, 1787 (b) 24th May, 1788
(c) 26th May 1857 (d) None of these
(v) On 12th June, 1991 presidential election was held in which ............... gained 57.3% of the
votes by virthe of which he became the president of the federation for next five years.
(a) Brezhnev (b) Boris Yeltsin
(c) Yunn-Shi-Kai (d) None of these.

6.4 Summary

• The term ‘constitution’, when applied to a political society, embodies both a physical and a
legal conception. In the former sense, it refers to the totality of constituent elements that form
the physical make-up of the state as the factors of population and territory including the
institutions of political machinery or administrative mechanism. But in the latter sense, it
refers to a sum-total of statutes, charters, documents, and all written as well as unwritten
(conventional) rules that constitute the organic public law of the state.
• While constitution refers to a body of rules that are essential for every political community,
constitutionalism desires appropriate limitations whereby power is proscribed and procedure
is prescribed.

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