Some thoughts on Swiss politics

This article on Switzerland's efforts to replace the UN Human Rights Commission takes a rare look (for non-Swiss press) at what Switzerland has been doing since joining the UN in 2002. It's a pretty good piece, but I take issue with the final sentence.

Whenever the Swiss vote on "integration" issues such as joining the UN or forging closer ties with the EU, there is a split in the popular vote between the Western, French-speaking cantons and the Eastern, German-speaking cantons (the famous Röstigraben effect). It is not really as clear-cut as that, since the German-speaking cities of Zürich, Bern, and Basel often vote the "integrationist" position, and in the recent Schengen-Dublin vote it appeared to be more of a city-country side split than a French-German language split. But yes, there is a pretty significant chunk of the Swiss population that votes against more integration with the EU, easier requirements for foreigners to obtain citizenship, and UN membership. And most of this chunk is German-speaking. But to say that these people think Switzerland should "remain isolated," as the last sentence of the IHT piece declares, is simplistic. Most Swiss who vote against closer ties with the EU are not voting in favor of isolation, they are voting against subordinating their grass-roots democratic tradition to a supra-national legislature. Heck, many Swiss don't like subordinating themselves to their own Swiss legislature, why would they want to put the decision making power even further away? The Swiss take their initiative and referendum rights very seriously. It's not isolation that they're asserting in these votes, it's self-determination.

Edited Friday for clarity