COVID-19 : Le système sanitaire suisse face à la première vague

Cette note de recherche s’interroge sur le fonctionnement de l’État fédéral helvétique, lorsque celui-ci est confronté à une situation exceptionnelle. Nous tenterons, sans trop prétendre à l’exhaustivité, de présenter et évaluer le système politique et de santé suisse à l’aune de la crise de la COVID-19. Pour ce faire, nous retraçons l’histoire du système sanitaire suisse et des politiques qui en découlent. Dans un second temps, nous expliquons en quoi l’efficacité d’un bon gouvernement va de pair avec l’efficience d’un système sanitaire, puis nous discuterons de la relation extraordinaire des acteurs (publics-privés) qui permettrait d’atteindre un optimum du système de santé suisse.

Challenges to Local-Global Relations in Federal Countries

International Relations has been a consolidated expression since the Peace of Westphalia in the 17th Century (Wilkinson, 2010). As a separate field of study, it was adopted for the first time when its Chair at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth was established in 1919 (Evans, 1998). Despite the fact that the expression has been and is still used in academia, politics and diplomacy worldwide to explain relations between nations, we know that the term “international” not only encompasses the nations themselves, as sovereignty countries, but also includes subnational entities, either public or private...

Building Bridges in Divided Societies: Sustaining Democratic Transition Through Complex Power-Sharing in Lebanon and Iraq

This paper looks at how divided societies like Lebanon and Iraq currently incorporate very fragile models of governance. The recommendations in this study attempt to introduce a hybrid model that considers integration and consociationalism as effective tools to electoral management in both countries, in light of the recent elections taking place in May 2018, and the continuities presented to this day. In assessing the effectiveness of consociationalism as a power-sharing framework, this paper does not attempt to depart from the already-established model of governance. Rather, the analysis presents elements that would hopefully improve power-sharing and governance in the two divided societies of Lebanon and Iraq. Elements as such may bring forth a steadier process that aids democratic transition in divided societies. Sectarianism is heavily embedded in both the Lebanese and Iraqi communities. Ignoring the conflicting issues that rise with each successive election only promotes a fragile environment that deeply divides, instead of uniting societies.

Does Federalism Matter in Africa?

The academic study of federalism is somewhat unfashionable in Africa, where formal institutions are often regarded as superficial, ephemeral and ineffective, while informal norms, networks, processes and practices are considered to be the real bedrock and substance of politics. Indeed, for decades, a “neo-patrimonial theoretical framework” or “institution-less school” has been the prevailing paradigm for analyzing African governance and politics (Cheeseman 2018, 10-12). As a concept, neo-patrimonialism focuses on the pathologies of personal, “big man” rule, corruption, predation, patron-client networks and other informal ruling mechanisms in Africa. African structures of personalist rule and relations, in this neo-patrimonial conceptual framework, have little or no place for formal federalist institutions of self-rule, shared rule, and limited rule. Consequently, federalism is often regarded as irrelevant, unviable, or invariably doomed to degradation, extinction, and administrative, fiscal, and political recentralization in Africa’s neo-patrimonial governance eco-system. “In short,” in the words of a leading scholar of decentralization in Africa, “federalism can hardly matter where [formal] institutions themselves have little import” (Dickovick 2012, 3).

Federal Democracy between Autonomy and Interdependence

According to common concepts of federalism, a federal system should balance unity and diversity, integration and differentiation, centralization and decentralization. Although there is no principle that determines an appropriate balance or an optimal combination, in reality, these contradictory requirements are met by political compromises and ongoing processes of allocating and reallocation power and resources.

Relevance of the Federal Idea

When the decision to establish the Forum of Federations was made in 1999, founder Canada had just survived a major existential crisis. In 1995, the second referendum on Quebec independence almost lead to the breakup of the country. Therefore, the contribution that federalism (or more accurately, the federal idea or federal spirit) can make to national unity and democratic consolidation has been at the heart of the organization’s work since its founding...

Immigration Federalism

In many federal states, subnational governments are increasingly involved in immigration policy making (i.e. immigrant recruitment, selection, settlement or integration), which has resulted in the decentralization of powers and resources, and important policy development at the subnational level...

Why (the Research on) Federalism Matters

Research on federalism existed even before the first federal state emerged. It is an epic tale about leagues and unions, covenants and constitutions, loyalty and subsidiarity. But federalism is also about peace-making, vertical separation of powers, compound democracy, multi-layered governance and minority protection. It is not by chance, therefore, that almost all federal states are liberal democracies. Although a plethora of academic literature has been written on federalism, including many classical works of leading academics in the fields of constitutional law and social sciences, the research has never been exhaustive...