Switzerland, Quo Vadis? Current Challenges and Potential Solutions for Swiss Politics

Freiburghaus, Rahel; Müller, Sean (2023). Switzerland, Quo Vadis? Current Challenges and Potential Solutions for Swiss Politics. In: The Oxford Handbook of Swiss Politics (pp. 773-794). Oxford University Press

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This chapter looks at the five main political trends that have engulfed Swiss politics over the past few decades: alienation, centralization, digitalization, internationalization/Europeanization, and polarization. While they all reflect debates and developments found elsewhere, each poses a particular challenge for the consensual, direct-democratic, and profoundly federal Swiss political system. The first part of the chapter traces the nature and extent of each challenge and identifies the kind of problem it poses. Based on new and original expert survey data, the second part of the chapter then looks at possible solutions and reform options for the Swiss polity, its politics, and policy-making. We conclude by sketching two separate, yet inherently linked, paths that Switzerland may follow to accommodate these challenges: 1) changing the behaviour of political actors and 2) changing the institutional framework and the incentives it provides.

Item Type:	Book Section (Book Chapter)
Division/Institute:	03 Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences > Social Sciences > Institute of Political Science
UniBE Contributor:	Freiburghaus, Rahel, Müller, Sean
Subjects:	300 Social sciences, sociology & anthropology > 320 Political science
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Language:	English
Submitter:	Rahel Freiburghaus
Date Deposited:	03 Jun 2024 11:03
Last Modified:	03 Jun 2024 11:03
URI:	https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/197423