Political Decision-Making in Switzerland

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-ix

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Pascal Sciarini

   Pages 1-23

3. From Corporatism to Bureaucratic and Partisan Politics: Changes in Decision-Making Processes over Time

   • Pascal Sciarini

   Pages 24-50

4. More Power Balance, Less Consensus: Changes in Decision-Making Structures over Time

   • Pascal Sciarini

   Pages 51-77

5. Looking beneath the Surface: Differences in Decision-Making Structures across Processes

   • Manuel Fischer

   Pages 78-97

6. Dominance, Competition, Compromise or Consensus? Explaining Decision-Making Structures

   • Manuel Fischer

   Pages 98-119

7. Coalition Formation in Parliament and during the Policy Process

   • Manuel Fischer, Denise Traber

   Pages 120-138

8. Europeanization, Institutional Changes and Differential Empowerment

   • Manuel Fischer, Pascal Sciarini, Denise Traber

   Pages 139-157

9. ‘Going Public’: The Mediatization of Decision-Making Processes

   • Manuel Fischer, Pascal Sciarini

   Pages 158-178

10. Who Is Influential and Why? The Determinants of Reputational Power

    • Manuel Fischer, Pascal Sciarini

    Pages 179-198

11. Who is Successful and Who Is Not? Actors’ Satisfaction with the Policy Output

    • Denise Traber

    Pages 199-218

12. Reactive, Slow and…Innovative? Decision-making Structures and Policy Outputs

    • Manuel Fischer

    Pages 219-237

13. Conclusion

    • Pascal Sciarini

    Pages 238-259

14. Back Matter

    Pages 260-291

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This in-depth study of the decision-making processes of the early 2000s shows that the Swiss consensus democracy has changed considerably. Power relations have transformed, conflict has increased, coalitions have become more unstable and outputs less predictable. Yet these challenges to consensus politics provide opportunities for innovation.

• Political decision-making
• political processes
• consensus democracy
• Switzerland
• power and conflict
• network analysis
• QCA
• Europeanization
• mediatization
• parliament
• government
• political parties
• interest groups
• conflict
• decision-making
• democracy
• Government
• Institution
• policy
• politics
• european union politics

'Is Swiss democracy still the slow-moving consensual model that Arend Lijphart described many years ago? Or have the European Union, globalization, immigration, the Swiss Peoples' Party, changes in bank secrecy regulations, and other factors transformed the political system into something else? In this major new book, three Swiss scholars, basing their analyses on hundreds of interviews and close examination of well chosen empirical cases of policymaking processes, show not only how Swiss democracy has been transformed, but why. It is an important and timely examination of, among other things, the impact of the EU on states that are not even members and the effects of immigrant-focused political parties not just on immigration policy, but on the workings of a nation's political institutions more broadly. It will be of interest to students of comparative politics, parties, direct democracy, and policymaking processes whether or not those readers hold a keen interest in the Swiss case itself.'

Prof. Frank Baumgartner, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA

'Replication studies are very rare in our discipline of political science. This is why I am particularly pleased with this replication of my own study of the Swiss political system that covered its structure and functioning back in the 1970s. The present study shows how much Swiss politics have changed over the last thirty years and how political power has been rebalanced, at the expense of corporatist policy-making, and in favor of partisan politics, as well as bureaucratic and intergovernmental policy-making. But the present study is far more than just a replication of my earlier work. In addition to the changes in the functioning of this paradigmatic case of a consensus democracy, this truly excellent study also documents the variation of Swiss political decision-making across policy domains, and it assesses its overall character under contemporary circumstances: it suggests that, while drifting towards a form of 'imperfect' consensus, Swiss politics have become at the same time more uncertain and more innovative.'

Prof. Hanspeter Kriesi, European University Institute, Florence, Italy

'This is a splendid book demonstrating the power of sophisticated political analysis. Based on rich empirical data and a variety of methods, the authors provide compelling evidence of important changes in Swiss politics and policy-making. For scholars with an interest into the puzzling politics of Switzerland, this book is a 'must read'.'

Prof. Volker Schneider, University of Konstanz, Germany

• University of Geneva, Switzerland

  Pascal Sciarini

• EAWAG, Dübendorf, Switzerland

  Manuel Fischer

• University of Bern, Switzerland

  Manuel Fischer

• University of Zurich, Switzerland

  Denise Traber

Pascal Sciarini is Professor of Swiss and Comparative Politics at the Department of Political Science and International Relations, University of Geneva, Switzerland.

Manuel Fischer is Researcher at the Department of Environmental Social Sciences at Eawag, Dübendorf, and lecturer at the Institute of Political Science, University of Bern, Switzerland.

Denise Traber is a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Political Science, University of Zurich, Switzerland.

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