Re:EU Commissioner Will Simply Ignore Any Rejection Of ACTA ...
by vidarh on Wednesday June 27, 2012 @06:11AM
(#4166291)
No, I mean confederation.
Switzerland is a confederation in name and by tradition only, but has had all the features of a federation since 1848.
After civil war in 1847, the new constitution was drawn up expressly to create a federal central government to replace the weak old con-federate governments, and to have the cantons cede some of their sovereignty to it, in the same was the US Constitution had the states cede sovereignty in certain areas - the Swiss constitution of 1848 was to a large extent influenced by the US Constitution.
The current constitutions official name even translates to the Federal Constitution of the Swiss Confederation.
Switzerland is a confederation. Its 26 states have a lot of power, through the senate, state majority on national votes as well as sovereign areas like state taxes, education, state traffic. However, within boundaries, the Swiss national parliament can overrule state parliaments any day (and national people votes can overrule pretty much anything anyway).