Switzerland
The center has no monopoly on the search for balance
Anti-ideologism, nothing but a posture
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Section: Policy
«Le Centre»: debate between two young centrists
At the start of 2021, the Swiss political landscape undergoes a major turning point. The historic Christian Democratic Party (CVP) welcomes into its ranks the young Bourgeois Democratic Party (PBD). This merger, mainly in German-speaking Switzerland, is accompanied by a veritable earthquake as the party changes its name to Le Centre. Nathan Bender of the Jeunes démocrates-chrétiens (JDC) in French-speaking Valais and Sascha Zbinden of the Jeunes bourgeois-démocrates (JPBD) in Bern cross swords, sharing their visions and thoughts on this new party and the challenges it will face in the coming years.
Trump was not a mistake of history
LONG FORMAT ARTICLE, Clément Guntern | Now that Donald Trump's term in office is coming to an end, the question arises: what will he leave as a legacy to his country's history? His personality and political actions may have shocked or impressed, but he is nonetheless perpetuating a trend that has long been present: the national disunity and international decline of the United States.
The bilateral route has always been a dead end
ARTICLE LONG FORMAT, Clément Guntern | When Switzerland embarked on the bilateral path in the early 2000s, it thought it had found a form of cohabitation with its European neighbor that would be profitable and adapted to Swiss particularities. From the outset, however, this path was in reality a political dead-end. It remains so today, and can be explained by a series of deep-rooted Swiss myths. To get out of this cul-de-sac, it is up to the Swiss people to finally have a European project. An act requiring courage and modesty, and one that would strengthen our national identity.
Behind the notion of sovereignty, the end of naivety
The year 2020, in addition to having seen a pandemic of immeasurable impact, has marked the return, or rather the rebirth, of a notion that was once thought to be obsolete, unsuitable and even dangerous: that of sovereignty. In the space of a few months, the issue has once again become central. But an anachronistic vocabulary tends to overshadow what is really at stake: not the withdrawal of nations into themselves, but the pursuit of balanced regulation of globalization.
Vocational training: a university affair?
ARTICLE LONG FORMAT, Robin Parisi | La formation suisse se conçoit comme un système à deux voies principales parallèles, mais perméables l’une pour l’autre. La voie dite «professionnelle» qui démarre par le célèbre CFC et peut s’achever par des diplômes ES, Brevets fédéraux ou encore Diplôme fédéraux. La seconde voie amène l’étudiant des écoles de maturité, gymnasiales ou spécialisées vers les hautes écoles que sont les universités et les HES. Pourtant, phénomène principalement romand, les hautes écoles spécialisées accaparent – et sous la bénédiction bienveillante des autorités cantonales francophones – le privilège de la formation professionnelle. Sans, toutefois, renoncer au prestige «universitaire» que le Processus de Bologne leur a apporté.
Mohamed Hamdaoui: «Teachers must be given the opportunity to speak out».»
ENTRETIEN LONG FORMAT, Jonas Follonier | C'est l’un des politiciens suisses à être le plus sur le front du combat contre l’islamisme. Même s’il n’aime pas ce mot, «combat» (il lui préfère celui de «cause»), Mohamed Hamdaoui en a fait l’un de ses thèmes prioritaires, se profilant dans ce débat comme un acteur très investi, quitte à verser dans l’émotion. Son parcours y est sans doute pour quelque chose: né dans le Hoggar, ce Touareg a aimé une femme qui dans les années quatre-vingt s’est fait enlever par des islamistes algériens parce qu’elle refusait de porter le voile. Ces semeurs de terreur l’ont décapitée. Le meurtre en France du professeur Samuel Paty par un musulman radicalisé utilisant le même mode opératoire l’a bouleversé. Entretien avec un ancien socialiste devenu PDC, qui ne considère pas la Suisse à l’abri de l’islam politique.
The roots of American political polarization
The country that has been called the first of democracies, the one whose merits and vigor have been praised for so long, now seems to be out of breath. The chaotic «debate» between Joe Biden and Donald Trump bears witness to this. The roots of the problem run so deep that it would be unfair to attribute the current situation to any particular president. It is up to American society as a whole to deal with the evil that is eating away at it: rampant polarization.
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