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A Swiss Tale of Security Critical Analysis of Switzerland’S Federal Council’S Security Narrative

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A Swiss Tale of Security Critical Analysis of Switzerland’S Federal Council’S Security Narrative A Swiss Tale of Security Critical Analysis of Switzerland’s Federal Council’s Security Narrative Petra Katrin Jud Thesis, 30 ECTS (hp) Political Science with a focus on Crisis Management and Security Master’s Programme in Politics and War Autumn 2020 Supervisor: Charlotte Wagnsson Word count: 20.000 Acknowledgements I would like to express my gratitude to Charlotte Wagnsson for her supportive and kind- hearted supervision, and Simon Hollis for his valuable feedback at the mid-seminar. This thesis would not have been possible without the support from my friends and peers Melinda Nilsson and Selma Johansson, and of course Bilbo, the cat. A heartfelt thank you also goes to my ever-supportive parents, Annika and Marcel Jud, and last but not least to my fiancé Alexander Emerson for sustaining me and my academic aspirations. Abstract This paper seeks to explore why the people of Switzerland have preponderantly voted in favour of a strong military defence despite the reality of Swiss security in the 21st century being dependent on international collaboration outside the military arena. The conundrum is answered by determining the Swiss Federal Council’s strategic narrative regarding security, through examination of its explanatory texts in voting booklets between 1978 and 2020, finding that the matter of armed neutrality is a red thread. Either neutrality is used as justification of an act supported by the Federal Council, or that neutrality would be harmed by popular initiatives the Council does not endorse. Keywords: strategic narratives, narrative analysis, security, Switzerland, direct democracy Table of Contents 1. Introduction 1 1.1 Research Problem 2 1.2 Aim and Research Question 3 1.3 Delimitations 3 1.4 Thesis Outline 4 2. Background 5 2.1 The Context of Switzerland 5 2.1.1 Switzerland’s political system 6 2.1.2 Neutrality 7 3. Previous Research 9 4. Theory Section 11 4.1 Constructivism 11 4.2 Narratives 12 5. Methodology 14 5.1 Research Design 14 5.2. Method 15 5.2.1 Narrative Analysis 15 5.2.2 Framework 16 5.3 Material 18 5.4 Reflexivity 20 6. Analysis 21 6.1 Empirical Analysis 21 6.2 Discussion 57 6.2.1 Projection and Reception 62 7. Conclusion 63 7.1 Implications for future research 64 8. References 65 8.1 Literature 65 8.2 Empirical Material 67 Appendix: Translation Glossary German – English 69 1. Introduction European security policy has undergone big changes since the end of the Cold War, with questions of security touching upon issues far beyond the traditional threat to sovereignty over territory. First, the reunification of Europe ended the direct military threat, that had been around for most of the 20th century, resulting in West European states downsizing their armed forces and spending their “peace dividends” on other sectors. The European security agenda was not only broadened to cover non-military threats, but also deepened to include individuals’ security – in addition to state security. Both the reduced national defence capacities and new threat definitions were a fertile breeding ground for enlargement processes of the European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) during the 1990s, resulting in most European states having moving away from the idea of national security and thinking in terms of collective security.1 The end of the Cold War also entailed a shift in political science, with the field moving from studies of material realities and hard power to social constructions and soft power. One considerabely prominent area in the study of soft political power is the study of strategic narratives. Political science and International Relations scholars have found several examples of states and non-state actors employing strategic narratives in order to influence others’ behaviours and to have an effect on political outcomes. However, the author has identified a gap in the existing research on strategic narratives. Almost all of it deals with internationally employed narratives – the greater share scrutinising authoritarian regimes’ and rebel groups’ narratives against the West. But the theory of strategic narratives is not confined to the international arena, since it alleges that narratives can be employed by any political actor on any arena, including the domestic one. Strategic narratives are in fact an important tool in democracies to gain legitimacy from voters.2 Meanwhile, even after the Iron Curtain’s fall, the Swiss government has held onto its Sonderweg of armed neutrality, which it has since the Napoleonic era, and claims autonomy from most international organisations. While Geneva is a prominent hub for international organisations, like the United Nations, the World Health Organization (WHO), the Red Cross and Médicins Sans Frontières, the Swiss government has consistently maintained conscription 1 Chappell, Galbreath, and Mawdsley, ‘A Changing Security Architecture’, 2–23. 2 Miskimmon, O´Loughlin, and Roselle, Forging the World: Strategic Narratives and International Relations, 2–6. 1 for all Swiss able-bodied males aged 18-30, and a strong arms industry. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) ranks Switzerland as the 12th biggest arms exporter 1960-2019 – in absolute terms, not per capita.3 Another feature of Switzerland is that it has a fairly unique form of direct democracy, which allows the general population to have the last word on any issue, even those concerning national security. Yet, the head of the Swiss government – the Federal Council – always hands out a voting recommendation with the voting papers, and they have a cogent success rate of 80%.4 This is an important aspect, since according to constructivist theory, whoever owns a narrative, sets the agenda. Specifically concerning security, the Swiss people have voted in accordance with the Federal Council’s recommendation in 84% of the cases.5 The recommendations are in nearly all cases in favour of the armed forces and a strong national defence sector. 1.1 Research Problem Although the Swiss government espouses the stance of armed neutrality, the reality of Swiss security is that it is not so different from the rest of Europe. The Swiss army has played an active role in several military peacekeeping missions, for instance in Kosovo (KFOR6) and Bosnia-Hercegovina (EUFOR7 Althea). The Swiss company (SWISSCOY) at KFOR amounts to 165 armed military personnel – 195 as of April 2021 – and Switzerland is the lead nation for the Mobile Training Teams in the Althea mission. There has even been a permanent Swiss mission at the NATO headquarters in Brussels since 1997.8 Moreover, Swiss security is highly dependent on international collaboration, and the Swiss defence sector alone is not capable of securing Switzerland. A study in Swiss Political Science Review, where international and national cooperation between security agents was measured, has shown that “threat management has become a complex trans-functional multi-agency practice”9. 3 SIPRI, ‘Top List TIV Tables’. 4 In the years 1978-2020 the Swiss people have voted 365 times and 292 out of those, they Followed the Federal Council’s recommendation. Numbers taken From Année Politique Suisse, ‘Votes’. 5 Same years as above, 37 votes concerning security policy, 30 out oF those in accordance with the Federal Council’s recommendation. Numbers taken From Année Politique Suisse. 6 Kosovo Force 7 European Union Force 8 Swiss Armed Forces International Command, ‘SWISSINT’; Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sport, ‘Partnership for Peace’. 9 Hagmann et al., ‘The Programmatic and Institutional (Re-)Configuration of the Swiss National Security Field’, 231. 2 Why then do the Swiss people still vote in favour of a strong military defence? And why are they less prone to embrace a broader security agenda? Citizens never vote in a vacuum – they are influenced by narratives employed by political actors.10 One of the most influential narratives in Switzerland is that deployed by the highest political entity: The Federal Council, consisting of seven members from different political parties, which is why this thesis will examine the Swiss Federal Council’s narrative on security over the past 42 years. 1.2 Aim and Research Question This thesis aims to bring clarity to why the Swiss people still subscribe to the idea of a strong military defence and traditionalist worldview despite the reality of Swiss security being dependent on international collaboration outside the military arena. Since the outcomes of votes follow the Federal Council’s recommendation in 80% of cases, it is critical to look closer at the Federal Council’s strategic narrative regarding national security. The Swiss Federal Council’s concept of security will be examined through a narrative analysis of its public statements prior to popular votes on the issue since 1978. The research question is thus: “How does the Swiss Federal Council’s narrative influence voters on issues of security?” Apart from the main goal of explaining the specific case of Switzerland, the thesis also aims to contribute to existing theories of strategic narratives and neutral states. 1.3 Delimitations This thesis will only examine the advising texts by the Federal Council in voting booklets, and disregard any other public statements, like speeches and press releases. Further, only booklets between the years 1978 and 2020 will be examined. The reasoning behind the choice of material will be further explained in the methods section. Since the Swiss constitution is constructed to limit individual party power, this thesis will analyse a narrative that has been employed by a total of 38 different Federal Councillors 10 Bacon, Edwin, ‘Public Political Narratives: Developing a Neglected Source through the Exploratory Case of Russia in the Putin-Medvedev Era’, 768–69. 3 from five different parties over a timespan of over 40 years.11 At times, there have been more than one Councillor from the same party, and it is reasonable to assume that that party’s agenda influenced the narrative more than the voices from the other Councillors.
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