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Comment by closewith | Hacker News Reader

> The Swiss method works because their population is 6X smaller and GDP per capita is twice as high.

Not to be rude, but have you considered that you may have causation backwards here.

Thanks. I think that a perfectly reasonable question to ask. I answered a similar question up thread a bit. To expand, I think the main reason the Swiss method works is because the country is relatively small and well-aligned. The alignment comes from political cohesion (again it’s a small county) and excess wealth. Once you get to a UK-scale country, the rules change quite a bit. There are more factions and the pace of governmental change tends to flip every few years. As a result, infrastructure projects tend to become enormous as a means of self-preservation. Otherwise, they are just too tiny to survive the political turmoil. You see this in the UK, France, Germany… it’s crazy in the US. A standout exception is China and while they have their own problems, there is a iron-clad unity on really big projects.

> To expand, I think the main reason the Swiss method works is because the country is relatively small

I don't think that's relevant, as there are many small countries with the same problems as the UK and the UK is only medium-sized.

> and well-aligned.

That's the crux of the issue and it's not because of population size. Small countries are no more aligned than large ones (or medium size like the UK) in general.

Why is Switzerland more aligned politically than its peers? Why is social cohesion higher?

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