My new book, The Swiss Democracy Dictionary, asks a deceptively simple question: do we need better politicians, or do we need a better way of organising political power? This 365-page guide contains 72 entries explaining, in clear and accessible language, the institutions, ideas, history and mechanisms that make Swiss democracy so different. Each entry runs across several pages, making the book equally accessible to the curious layperson, while also providing a useful reference for academics, constitutionalists, politicians and anyone interested in how democracy can work differently. And Switzerland 🇨🇭provides a rather remarkable case study. It is not simply that Switzerland 🇨🇭is wealthy. It repeatedly performs exceptionally well across an extraordinary range of measures. It has one of the world's highest life expectancies. It remains the world's number one country for innovation, topping the Global Innovation Index for the 16th consecutive year in 2026. It was ranked the world's most competitive economy by IMD in 2025 and, even after falling to third in 2026, remained number one for government efficiency and infrastructure. It is also consistently among the world's most peaceful countries, with low levels of violent crime, and ranks highly for political stability and institutional quality. Switzerland 🇨🇭was ranked 5th in the 2025 Global Peace Index and 8th in the 2026 World Press Freedom Index. So we have a country that combines remarkable economic performance with innovation, infrastructure, stability, security, high institutional quality and an exceptionally high quality of life. Is that simply coincidence? Or is there something about the way Switzerland 🇨🇭organises and distributes political power that helps explain the result? That is one of the questions this dictionary explores. It looks beyond the familiar idea of referendums to examine the much bigger picture: subsidiarity, federalism, decentralisation, local government, civic participation, accountability, political compromise and, above all, the principle that citizens should retain meaningful political power between elections. I have lived under the Swiss system for two decades. It is certainly not perfect. No country is. Switzerland 🇨🇭has its own problems, disagreements and political failures. But there has to be a reason why the same country keeps appearing near the top of so many completely different international measures. And once you start looking closely at how its political system actually works, some uncomfortable questions begin to emerge. Why can Swiss citizens challenge laws directly? Why can they propose constitutional change themselves? Why is so much political power held at cantonal and communal level? Why does Parliament not sit all year? Why do citizens have so many opportunities to intervene between elections? And perhaps the most uncomfortable question of all: If citizens can be trusted to choose their politicians, why shouldn't they also be trusted to decide some of the things politicians decide for them? This dictionary follows my two non-fiction books and four novels exploring direct democracy. It is intended as an easy guide to a system that gives citizens something many representative democracies largely reserve for politicians: the power to decide. I make no claim that Switzerland 🇨🇭has discovered a perfect political formula, or that direct democracy alone explains its success. But I do believe there is an inconvenient truth worth examining. When citizens are given meaningful democratic tools, something rather interesting can happen. They do not necessarily become more extreme, more chaotic or less responsible. They can become more engaged. They can challenge those in power. They can reject proposals they dislike. They can demand change when politicians refuse to act. And, importantly, they can also reject attractive-sounding proposals when they believe the consequences are wrong. That is the Swiss experiment. The Swiss have been practising it for more than a century. Now political movements and newly formed parties around the world are increasingly looking towards Switzerland 🇨🇭and asking whether direct democracy might represent the next stage in the evolution of democratic government. Perhaps they are discovering something Switzerland 🇨🇭has known for generations. This book is an invitation to look closely. Not just at Switzerland. 🇨🇭 At your own system. Because after 72 entries and 365 pages, I suspect many readers will find themselves asking a rather uncomfortable question: “What on earth is the system I have been living under?” There is no perfect democracy. But perhaps there is such a thing as a better one. And perhaps Switzerland 🇨🇭gives us a rather compelling place to start looking. #DirectDemocracy

“Two Different Railways, Two Different Economic Futures” In the 1960s, Dr Richard Beeching was dismantling Britain’s railway network, cutting off communities and weakening the economic prospects of many local and regional economies. Many local towns and villages still suffer from that decision today. Meanwhile, in Switzerland they continued investing in rail connections, helping businesses, factories and communities in remote areas remain accessible and economically viable. People didn’t have to move away from their homes to find alternative employment, they were able to stay even in the mountainous regions. It’s proven to be the right policy given Switzerland’s economic record and ranking today. Reliable transport connects workers to jobs, customers to businesses and manufacturers to markets. Had Beeching’s approach been applied across Switzerland, the consequences could have extended far beyond the loss of railway lines, potentially contributing to the decline or closure of businesses that depended on them. Britain rationalised its railways in a so-called pursuit of efficiency; Switzerland recognised that connectivity could be an investment in the economic life of an entire community. Two very different approaches. Today Switzerland has one of the most efficient rail systems in the world with trains known for their punctuality. It would be great to have a recovery of lines in the UK. 🚊 choo choo! #DirectDemocracy

Published 27 September - what’s real democracy like?

”Swiss Democracy Dictionary announcement” The Swiss Democracy Dictionary – A Guide to the System That Gives Citizens the Power to Decide is out at the end of September. It may change the way you look at democracy forever. In fact, you may finish it and start wondering whether you ever had quite as much democracy as you thought you did. Don’t worry — it’s not contagious. Although once you discover what citizens can actually decide in Switzerland, there’s a chance you’ll never look at your own political system quite the same way again. #DirectDemocracy