[seanmcdirmid]

Doing so would require a vote from all the Swiss (as any real democracy would require), and a successful vote would block them from doing business with customers from almost all other countries (as they wouldn’t qualify as real democracies by Swiss standards).

I’m not sure how such a referendum would be written, but surely it wouldn’t pass (Swiss are fairly conservative in regards to money and business).

[amai]

I didn't say they should restrict business to countries most similar to Switzerland. There are 75 countries on the democracy index that are called democratic. I believe doing business with 75 countries should be more than enough for small Switzerland. This would free Switzerland from the accusation of hypocrisy, because at the moment it is democratic itself, but profiting a lot from money coming from authoritarian, corrupt regimes and even outright dictatorships.

P.S.: Actually the restriction of business to the 75 democratic countries in the world should be the rule in every democratic country, because it would show that democratic values are more important than money.

[seanmcdirmid]

> This would free Switzerland from the accusation of hypocrisy, because at the moment it is democratic itself, but profiting a lot from money coming from authoritarian, corrupt regimes and even outright dictatorships.

How is a democracy index put out by an organization legally binding? You are still asking to encode a qualitative judgement into law, which is difficult even in less democratic countries.

> because it would show that democratic values are more important than money.

For most people, democracy is the means to safety and security (and yes, money), not the other way around. Your plan would ironically make more sense in an autocracy where such ideology can be more easily implemented and enforced.

[amai]

> You are still asking to encode a qualitative judgement into law, which is difficult even in less democratic countries.

I disagree. In pandemic times every democratic country had a list of safe and not-safe countries regarding traveling restrictions. I demand something similar for business restrictions.

> Your plan would ironically make more sense in an autocracy where such ideology can be more easily implemented and enforced.

Laws can better be enforced in Democracies, because usually laws are created so that they reflect the majority opinion and there is less corruption.