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Switzerland: the referendum and initiative as a centrepiece of the political system

  • Chapter
The Referendum Experience in Europe

Abstract

Switzerland is certainly the world leader in the use of direct democratic devices. According to Kobach (1993a, p. 1), “Switzerland has held more nationwide referendums since it introduced the institution in 1848 than all other countries combined, since the emergence of the modern nation-state”. Lijphart (1984, p. 201) finds that Switzerland held more than two-thirds of the referendums that he could identify in the 21 democracies analysed in his study. The referendum and the initiative have profoundly shaped the Swiss political system and the history of this small federal state generally. Since 1848, the Swiss people have made a significant proportion of their political decisions through direct legislation. Although today an increasing number of critics are asking for a suppression, or at least a significant restriction, of the existing popular rights, the Swiss are most likely to continue to use their direct democratic institutions at least as intensively as they have done in the past.

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Authors
  1. Alexander H. Trechsel
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  2. Hanspeter Kriesi
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Trinity College, Dublin University, Ireland

    Michael Gallagher (Lecturer in Political Science) (Lecturer in Political Science)

  2. University of Florence, Italy

    Pier Vincenzo Uleri (Lecturer in Political Science) (Lecturer in Political Science)

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© 1996 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited

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Trechsel, A.H., Kriesi, H. (1996). Switzerland: the referendum and initiative as a centrepiece of the political system. In: Gallagher, M., Uleri, P.V. (eds) The Referendum Experience in Europe. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-24796-7_12

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