Abstract
In this chapter, the reader will gain a concise and practice-oriented overview of the Swiss referendum history, use, and functionality. Over the centuries referendums turned into the dominant characteristic of the Swiss political system. Political parties had to learn how to live with them are using them as tools for power maintenance as well. Direct democratic mechanisms such as the initiative and the optional referendum but also less known instruments such as the finance or tax referendum are exemplified. Detailed long term referendum frequencies demonstrate how dominant ballot votes are for Swiss politics. After a referendum vote is before the next one, maybe only three months later. Referendum practice examples given in the chapter include the initiative to abolish the Swiss army, the minaret initiative as well as some local and regional level illustrations.
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Notes
- 1.
Arguably, the full emancipation of formerly subjected territories was only achieved when the Jura split from the Canton of Bern and became a canton of its own right in 1979.
- 2.
The first country-wide referendum was held in 1802 under Napoleon, establishing the Helvetic Republic.
- 3.
The referendum question asked: Would you like to accept the Federal Act dating from 13 June 2008 regarding temporary additional financing of the disability insurance by raising the VAT rates?
- 4.
Further, later attempts at reducing the army via direct democratic mechanisms did not manage to generate political majorities either: ‘Saving on army and defense spending’ trying to cut the costs for the army in half, on 26 November 2000, saw 62.4% No votes; the initiative ‘For a credible security policy and a Switzerland without an army’ handed in by the same group 10 years later, 2 December 2001, tried to bring up the topic again but failed, getting only 21.9% Yes votes; on 22 September 2013 the initiative ‘Yes to the abolition of compulsory military service’ was also rejected with 73.2% No votes.
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Serdült, U. (2021). The Referendum Experience in Switzerland. In: Smith, J. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of European Referendums . Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-55803-1_10
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