Accepted by a majority of the population, rejected by a majority of cantons: the outcome of Sunday’s responsible business initiative vote has led to debates about the political system in Switzerland. Is there a tension between federalism and democracy? Swiss-based companies narrowly avoided facing greater liability for human rights and environmental abuses in their business activities abroad after a national vote rejected the proposal on Sunday. Some 37,500 more people backed the divisive referendum, giving a majority of 50.7%. But at the end of the day, because a majority of Switzerland’s 26 cantons opposed the initiative, it was rejected. What does this mean for the Swiss direct democracy system, which calls its citizens to the ballot box more often than any other country in the world? Is something broken here? Debates have sprung up in the past few days. But a look at the frequency of such outcomes suggests this is much ado about nothing. Since people’s initiatives were...
