Most significantly, the cantons are responsible for healthcare, welfare, law enforcement and public education; they also retain the power of taxation.
They are also termed Ämter (Lucerne), Amtsbezirke (Bern), district (in French) or distretto (Ticino and part of Graubünden).
However, for historical reasons districts in cantons Graubünden and Schwyz are their own legal entities with jurisdiction over tax and often have their own Landsgemeinde.
Eight of the 26 Cantons – Uri, Obwalden, Nidwalden, Glarus, Zug, Appenzell Innerrhoden, Basel-City and Geneva – have always existed without the district level of government.
A number of further cantons have dispensed with the district level recently, Appenzell Ausserrhoden in 1995, Schaffhausen in 1999, St Gallen in 2003 and Lucerne in 2007.
[citation needed] Communes are generally governed by a council (sometimes called Municipality) headed by a mayor as executive and the town meeting as legislature.
In some cantons, foreign persons that have dwelled for a certain time in Switzerland are also allowed to participate in the municipal politics.
[citation needed] "Cities" (villes or Städte) are the municipalities with more than 10,000 inhabitants or smaller places which had medieval town rights.