Major entrepreneurs played a direct role in building the federal state born in 1848. These economic figures subsequently became rarer, often giving way to the leaders of employers' associations. An evolution that has left its mark.
In countries where the state is underdeveloped, volunteer civic engagement is flourishing, as shown by this report from 2019 in a Burmese emergency service, among section chiefs in Sierra Leone and in the search for missing persons in Belarus.
The shortcomings of the militia principle enshrined in Swiss DNA would be even more pronounced in a more professionalized system.
The association is a remedy for the inward-looking nature of democratic regimes, where the dependence on others that prevailed in feudal regimes has been eroded. It also enables its members to commit themselves beyond their personal interests, without having to go through the State.
Le Regard Libre carried out a survey to understand what motivates its all-volunteer team to commit themselves for over ten years and one hundred issues. Although specific, our experience offers useful pointers for other initiatives.
For business circles, the militia system is a key to the country's success. Marco Taddei, Director of the Union patronale suisse in French-speaking Switzerland, explains the benefits of this system for companies, despite the reluctance of some of them.
Over the decades, the Swiss militia system has fostered mutual understanding between the professional, political and associative worlds, as well as the pooling of knowledge. This is also true for the culture of prevention among the general public.
The army, a perennial topic of discussion in Switzerland, is once again at the forefront of the media scene, due to budget debates. Here are some arguments you may not have thought of yet in favor of maintaining this unique militia.
Militia system, productivity, neutrality... In his essay «La Suisse n'existe plus» (Switzerland no longer exists), Nicolas Jutzet, project manager at the Institut libéral, shows that the idea we have of this democratic and economic model no longer really reflects reality.
French 
German 
English