I've read Rousseau (who was Swiss) and was fascinated by his assessment that representative democracies lead to parties which lead to factions which leads to self-destruction; that the only viable form of Democracy was direct plebiscite, as often as possible. CH still operates this way.
A minor clarification: Rousseau was not Swiss. He was born in Geneva, but Geneva didn't join the Swiss Confederation until 1815 (many years after his death).
