Does Politic Decentralization in Switzerland Strengthen Social Capital?

Seminar paper from the year 2009 in the subject Politics - Methods, Research, grade: 1,3, University of Constance (Fachbereich Politik- und Verwaltungswissenschaft), course: Kulturelle und politische Grundlagen sozialen Kapitals im Vergleich, language: English, abstract: Switzerland is recognized for its high level of direct democracy, citizens having the chance to participate directly in the process of decision making of public policies, to intend law initiatives, to amend ordinary laws or the Constitution, to submit referendums. Switzerland enjoys a strong federalism, with high degrees of decentralization at each of three federal levels. A high degree of political decentralization can boost social capital. I intend in this Hausarbeit to observe if the level political decentralization in Switzerland is increasing the social capital, defined in terms of generalized trust, civic cooperation and social cohesiveness.