Swiss Democracy Possible Solutions to Confict in Multicultural Societies Fourth Edition
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Swiss Democracy Possible Solutions to Confict in Multicultural Societies Fourth Edition Wolf Linder · Sean Mueller Swiss Democracy “Much can be learned from this study. But the lesson of this book is not: do it like the Swiss, and everything will be fne. Rather: study the history and the institutions of Switzerland, adopt what seems to work and avoid the many pitfalls”. —Jürg Steiner, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA and University of Bern, Switzerland, on the frst edition (1994) “This new edition of Swiss Democracy lives up to both the far-reaching changes that the Swiss political system has experienced over the past decades under the infuence of Europeanization and party system polarization, and also to the dynamic development of political science research on Swiss politics. It is essential reading for scholars and practitioners alike who are interested in a critical appraisal of the development and dynamic development of Swiss consensus democracy”. —Silja Häusermann, University of Zurich, Switzerland “Swiss Democracy provides a comprehensive and original analysis of the emergence, development, and various defnitive features of this unique and complex political system—one characterized by extraordinary diffusion and sharing of powers among branches and levels of government as well as numerous constituencies. The authors explain the particularities of Swiss consensus democracy, federalism, direct democracy, and position in European and international politics, while also provid- ing insightful comparative perspectives and potential lessons. This fourth fully revised edition sheds light on continuity as much as numerous changes and chal- lenges to Swiss policies, politics and polity. It is a must-read for scholars of Swiss politics as well as comparative government that is also remarkably accessible for students, practitioners and a wider audience”. —Jared Sonnicksen, Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany Wolf Linder • Sean Mueller Swiss Democracy Possible Solutions to Confict in Multicultural Societies 4th ed. 2021 Wolf Linder Sean Mueller Department of Political Science Institute of Political Studies University of Bern University of Lausanne Bern, Switzerland Lausanne, Switzerland The open access publication of this book has been published with the support of the Swiss National Science Foundation. ISBN 978-3-030-63265-6 ISBN 978-3-030-63266-3 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-63266-3 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2021. This book is an open access publication. Open Access This book is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this book are included in the book’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the book’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specifc statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affliations. Cover illustration: © Creative Touch / DigitalVision Vectors / Getty Image This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG. The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland We dedicate this book to Verena and Natia who continue to enlighten us about Swiss politics and society. PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION This book has a history of over 25 years. When Swiss Democracy was frst published in 1994, articles on Switzerland in political science journals were rare, and Swiss Democracy was one of very few monographs on the Swiss political system written in English. Meanwhile, things have changed. This edition can draw on extensive political science research on this ‘devi- ant case of democracy’, and several new or revised monographs on the history and politics of Switzerland are on the market.1 In certain respects, Swiss Democracy has remained unique. Up to date with the state of scholarly research, it offers the basics of the political sys- tem and is intended not only for an academic readership. The book strives to combine an accessible writing style with theoretical considerations and concrete political narratives. Past editions have found many readers out- side of university classrooms. Particularly the Swiss Department of Foreign Affairs makes use of the message of Swiss Democracy in its diplomatic mis- sions and public initiatives, notably with the 1500 copies ordered of the Arab version. The book has also been translated into Polish, Nepali, and, 1 For example, Clive H. Church, The Politics and Government of Switzerland (Palgrave Macmillan, 2004) and Political Change in Switzerland (Routledge, 2016), Jonathan Steinberg, Why Switzerland? (Cambridge University Press, 3rd edition from 2015), Pascal Sciarini, Manuel Fischer and Denise Traber, Political Decision-Making in Switzerland (Palgrave, 2015), Hanspeter Kriesi and Alexander Trechsel, The Politics of Switzerland (Cambridge University Press, 2012), Jan-Erik Lane (ed.), The Swiss Labyrinth (Palgrave, 2001), Michael Butler et al., The Making of Modern Switzerland (Palgrave, 2000), and, as a collection of political science articles, Ulrich Klöti et al., Handbook of Swiss Politics (NZZ Publishing, 2007). vii viii PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION forthcoming, Azerbaijani. Partial translations of the text exist in Russian, Romanian and Serbo-Croatian. As a kind of a reference work for a critical account of Switzerland’s democracy, the text needed continuous updating for two reasons. One, Swiss political science research has fourished over the last two decades. Many of its fndings are relevant for this book and give readers further insight and hints, corresponding to the latest state of the art. Two, beneath Switzerland’s apparent political stability one fnds steady political change. This relates to the Swiss Constitution which—because of its openness to popular initiatives—is subject to amendments almost every year. Change also concerns politics, where the party system has undergone fundamental transformations since the early 1990s. Finally, Swiss policies, under the disruptive effects of globalisation and Europeanisation, have been under pressure from abroad. In the words of British scholar Clive Church, this has led ‘from stability to uncertainty’. While the second (1999) and third (2010) editions of Swiss Democracy were characterised by ‘soft’ renovations, this fourth edition underwent more extensive revisions. As a result, the former Introduction now appears as a separate chapter (Chap. 1) from the historic review of building a mul- ticultural society (Chap. 2). Besides providing comprehensively updated statistical data, this chapter particularly describes two recent develop- ments: the question of immigration and asylum policy, as well as the trans- formation of the party system and its implications for the Swiss government. In the chapter on federalism (Chap. 3), readers will learn about the latest developments in the Jura confict, the exit from nuclear power and its consequences for Swiss energy policy, the changing role of the Council of States and how the institutions of federalism are under stress from the outside. The practice of direct democracy (Chap. 4) has also led to political turbulences. They frst emerged when the people and cantons approved constitutional amendments conficting with international treaties. And while digitalisation appears as a new chance, it also bears considerable risks for direct democracy. The rise of populism and growing polarisation have further jeopardised the politics of ‘consensus democracy’ (Chap. 5). As in the past, the international comparisons (Chap. 6) are focused on one essential question: how do the institutional features of federalism, power- sharing and direct democracy function in other countries? And can they help to solve multicultural confict? A new chapter (Chap. 7) analyses the PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION ix policy of ‘bilateral’ relations between Switzerland and the EU, as well as their uncertain future. That chapter and thus the book conclude with the question on whether and how others could take the Swiss experience as a basis for their own institutional development—what I call the ‘dia- logue model’. Online databases play an ever-important role also in teaching and research. For students interested in Swiss politics, I mention just two of them: https://anneepolitique.swiss, a yearly