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Swiss democracy may be a good model for Afghanistan The Dallas Morning News The attacks of Sept. 11 have radically altered the course upon which the United States has been set since the close of World War II. America is no longer merely the defender of freedom and democracy or just the economic juggernaut that has pushed for open markets and greater cooperation. The United States has assumed a new role and a new mission – a war against terrorism – and has set about combating terrorism through the elimination of not only terrorists themselves, but the states that sponsor them as well. This is what has happened in Afghanistan and it looks as if this is a trend that will continue, but there is one very difficult situation that presents itself; what does the United States do with a country once it removes the government? The United States obviously cannot pull out of a country leaving it with no government and embroiled in total anarchy. It must help set up a new government. Of course, America is going to push for a democratic and open society in which all are represented and human rights are protected, but pure American-style democracy will not work for the ethically splintered nations such as Afghanistan, so another system must be found. One of the best models to base a new Afghan government on can be found in Switzerland, which was even considered for the Balkans in the 1990s. Swiss democracy is one of the oldest in the world and, in fact, as Gregory Fossedal notes in his new book Direct Democracy in Switzerland , the framers of the American Constitution borrowed much of that model. The difference between the two systems is that the Swiss government is far more decentralized than its American cousin. It is the feature that makes the Swiss model of democracy so attractive when looking for a model upon which to base the new Afghan government. Switzerland is made up of three basic ethnic groups, the Germans, the French and the Italians, all of which, while very different, are fiercely Swiss. This is not far from the ethnic conditions one finds in Afghanistan. The Afghan population is primarily composed of four ethnic groups as well, the Uzbeks, the Tajiks, the Hazara and the Pashtun. All four groups are very suspicious of each other and often fight for power, but they are all fiercely Afghan and protect their borders viciously. Also, Switzerland is divided into a series of cantons, or districts, and it is in these cantons that most of the power is held. The federal government's power is limited mostly to treaties, declarations of war and the enforcement of constitutional law, which is under constant revision through a series of national referendums where every citizen votes on a particular law or amendment. This direct democracy makes up the bulk of the lawmaking, both locally and nationally, that takes place in Switzerland, which enables every individual to have a voice and allows for a great deal of flexibility. Also the extreme division of power between the canton and the national government prevents the larger groups from dominating the others. These features are essential to the makeup of the Afghan government-to-be. That government must divide the country into regions, each with a large degree of autonomy in order to prevent the continuation of the tragic civil war that has ravaged the country for decades. It must also ensure that every individual and every group is represented to prevent further oppression such as that of the Afghan women. In addition, unlike other systems, the large amount of flexibility allowed by the Swiss model will enable the country to make swift and effective changes essential to a new government, especially one in as precarious a position as Afghanistan's. A modified Swiss system of government is definitely worth a very close look. If it was good enough for the United States ... Edwin Paynter, Plano, Texas
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