Since I was young I have been drawn to the ideas of anarchism. Sometimes I wonder if that is why I feel so comfortable in Switzerland. Although most visitors to Switzerland would describe it as anything but anarchist, when you think about the political and organisational structure, state control is minimal, decisions and self-government are delegated to the lowest and most local level which makes sense. Not to the lowest possible but to the lowest appropriate level. Things which should be decided on a state level are kept on that level; things which can appropriately be distributed are distributed and decided locally (for example in the next round of direct democracy, there are votes on the G20 minimum taxation for companies, climate laws and covid restrictions – the last one is a bit weird since there are no covid restrictions any more so the vote is actually about whether the state could reimpose these if needed, the third time we vote on the topic – and concurrently there are very many local votes on building schools, housing funding, minimum salary and so on).
Although this might not sound anarchist and Switzerland is of course not officially an anarchist state, maybe the country might have one of the forms of government which is worldwide closest to anarchism: the people decide almost everything through local self-organisation, the “highest law court” in the country is effectively not a court and is rather the people, and freedom of opinion and freedom of conscience are at the heart of the Swiss constitution. Individual freedom and personal responsibility are highly emphasised in Switzerland. Maybe it is not so far from anarcho-capitalism or minarchism or some other form of anarchism and maybe that is part of the reason I feel so comfortable here.