DIRECT DEMOCRACY AND THE RISE OF POPULISM IN SWITZERLAND

Öz

Son yıllarda, Avrupa siyasi manzarası, olağan sisteme meydan okuyan partilerin ortaya çıkmasından etkilenmiştir. Gözlemciler bu yeni hareketi “çok sağ”, “sağ kanat siyasi partiler”, “radikal sağ”, “popülizm” veya “ulusal popülizm” gibi kategorileri veya etiketleri kullanarak tanımladılar. Bu çalışma, İsviçre’deki demokrasinin şeklini incelemeyi ve özellikle İsviçre bağlamında popülizm olgusunu anlamayı amaçlamaktadır. Yakın tarihte, “Avrupa’daki en eski demokrasi” tarihinde, 1930’larda faşist ve Nazi diktatörlük rejimlerinden, “aşırı sağ” veya “popülist” hareketlerden ve partilerden oluşan “doğrudan demokrasinin vatanı” dır. Ancak, 1960’larda ve 1970’lerde, gerçek hoşgörüsüzlük belirtileri ortaya çıkmış ve otoriterlik yükselmiştir. Ancak 1990’larda, ulusal kimliğin ve tarafsızlığın savunulması, yabancı korkusu ve yönetici seçkinlerin eleştirilmesi, İsviçre’de siyasi dengelerde önemli değişikler getirecek sosyopolitik olgular haline gelmiştir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• doğrudan demokrasi
• popülizm
• popülist partiler
• aşırı sağ
• referandum

DIRECT DEMOCRACY AND THE RISE OF POPULISM IN SWITZERLAND

Öz

In recent years, the European political landscape has been marked by the emergence of parties that defy the usual system, with considerable success. Observers have described this new movement using categories or labels such as “far-right,” “right-wing political parties,” “radical right,” “populism,” or “national populism.” This study aims to scrutinize direct democracy and to understand the phenomenon of populism in the Swiss context. In the recent history of the oldest democracy in Europe, the homeland of direct democracy, spared by fascist and Nazi dictatorial regimes during the 1930s, far-right or populist movements and parties existed. But, it is during the 1960s and 1970s that real signs of intolerance and calls for authoritarianism rise. In the 1990s, however, the defense of national identity and neutrality, the fear of foreigners, and the criticism of the ruling elites became sociopolitical facts in Switzerland that would bring about a remarkable change in political balances.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• direct democracy
• populism
• populist parties
• far-right
• referendum

Kaynakça

1. Albertazzi, Daniel and McDonnell, Duncan (2008). Twenty-First Century Populism, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
2. Albertazzi, Daniel (2007). “Addressing ‘the People’: A Comparative Study of the Lega Nord’s and Lega dei Ticinesi’s Political Rhetoric and Styles of Propaganda”, Modern Italy, 12(3), 327–347.
3. Albertazzi, Daniel (2006). “The Lega dei Ticinesi: The Embodiment of Populism”, Politics 26(2), 133–139.
4. Baudoin, Marie-Élisabeth (2013). “La démocratie directe: entre histoire et avenir” [Direct democracy: between history and future], Siècles, 37 http://journals.openedition.org/siecles/1099 (Accessed 12.07.2021)
5. BBC News, (2018). “What is populism, and what does the term mean?”, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-43301423 (Accessed 18.10.2020).
6. BBC (2021). “Switzerland referendum: Voters support ban on face coverings in public.”1 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-56314173 (Accessed 12.07.2021)
7. Béguin, Jérôme (2007). L’extrême droite genevoise: Des origines a nos jours [The Geneva far right: From the origins to the present day], Yens-sur-Morges: Cabédita Editions.
8. Beramendi, Virginia et al. (2008) Direct Democracy, The International IDEA Handbook.

9. Fossedal, Gregory (2002). Direct democracy in Switzerland, New Brunswick and London
10. Bernhard, Laurent (2017). Three Faces of Populism in Current Switzerland: Comparing the Populist Communication of the Swiss People’s Party, the Ticino League, and the Geneva Citizens’ Movement, Swiss Political Science Review, 23(4): 509–525.
11. Bernhard, Laurent et al., (2015). “The Populist Discourse of the Swiss People’s Party”, European Populism in the Shadow of the Great Recession. (Eds.) Kriesi, H. and T.S. Pappas, Colchester: ECPR Press, 123–137.
12. Betz, Hans-George (1993). “The New Politics of Resentment: Radical Right-Wing Populist Parties” Western Europe. Comparative Politics, 25(4), 413–427.
13. Caramani, Daniele (2017). “Will vs. Reason: The Populist and Technocratic Forms of Political Representation and Their Critique to Party Government.”, American Political Science Review 111(01), 54–67. Communication of the Swiss People’s Party (2017). “The Ticino League, and the Geneva Citizens’ Movement”, Swiss Political Science Review, 23(4), 2017.
14. Coppedge, Michael et al., (2011). “Conceptualizing and Measuring Democracy: A New Approach.” Perspectives on Politics, 9(2), 247–267. Cultures Contexts (2017). Switzerland: Pioneer of Right-Wing Populism, available at https://sites.utexas.edu/culturescontexts/2017/02/05/switzerland-pioneer-of-right-wing-populism/ (Accessed 5.10.2020).
15. Woods, Dwayne (2014). The Many Faces of Populism in Italy: The Northern League and Berlusconism. The Many Faces of Populism: Current Perspectives. Emerald Group.
16. DW, Swiss vote on dehorning cows, 2018, available at https://www.dw.com/en/swiss-vote-on-dehorning-cows/a-46422841 (Accessed 13.12.2020).
17. Federal Statistical Office, election and votes statistics. Available at: https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/en/home/statistics/politics/popular-votes.html#781327098 (Accessed 12.07.2021)
18. Ginsborg, Paul (2005). Silvio Berlusconi: Television, Power and Patrimony. Verso.
19. Grand Council of Geneva statistics (2021). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Council_of_Geneva (Accessed 14.04.2021)
20. Gendzel, Glen (2013). “The People versus the Octopus: California Progressives and the Origins of Direct Democracy”, Siècles http://journals.openedition.org/siecles/1109 (Accessed 12.07.2021)
21. Giraux, Denis (2013). “Les droits populaires en Suisse : vers un idéal démocratique ? [Popular rights in Switzerland: towards a democratic ideal?]”, Siècles 37 http://journals.openedition.org/siecles/1204 (Accessed 12.07.2021)
22. Huber, Robert A. and Ruth, Saskia P. (2017). “Mind the Gap! Populism, Participation and Representation in Europe.” Swiss Political Science Review 23(4), 462–484.
23. Ionescu, Ghita, and Ernst Gellner, eds. (1969). Populism: Its Meanings and National Characteristics. New York: Macmillan.
24. Kaufmann, Bruno (2019). The way to modern direct democracy in Switzerland, House of Switzerland. https://houseofswitzerland.org/swissstories/history/way-modern-direct-democracy-switzerland (Accessed 6.05.2020).
25. Kaufmann, Bruno et al. (2010). Guidebook to Direct Democracy: In Switzerland and Beyond, Initiative & Referendum Institute Europe, ed. 4.
26. Kobach, Kris W. (1994). “Switzerland”, in David Butler et Austin Ranney, Referendums around the World, Washington, The AEI Press, 98-153
27. Kuenzi, Renat and Bondolfi, Sibilla (2018). Even the world’s best democracy isn’t perfect, https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/directdemocracy/international-day-of-democracy_even-the-world-s-best-democracy-isn-t-perfect-/44393624 (Accessed 08.10.2020).
28. Leone, Dario (2018). “Swiss to vote (again) on fighter purchase”, https://theaviationgeekclub.com/swiss-to-vote-again-on-fighter-purchase/ (Accessed 28.12.2020)
29. Levitsky, Steven & Loxton, James (2013) “Populism and competitive authoritarianism in the Andes”, Democratization, 20:1, 107-136.
30. March, Luke (2007). “From Vanguard of the Proletariat to Vox Populi: Left-Populism as a 'Shadow' of Contemporary Socialism”. SAIS Review of International Affairs. 27 (1): 63–77. doi:10.1353/sais.2007.0013. S2CID 154586793.
31. Mazzoleni, Oscar (2008). Nationalisme et populisme en Suisse. La radicalisation de la “nouvelle” UDC[Nationalism and populism in Switzerland. The radicalization of the “new” SVP]. Lausanne: Presses polytechniques et universitaires romandes (2nd edition).
32. Mazzoleni, Oscar (2005). “Multi-Level Populism and Centre-Periphery Cleavage in Switzerland”, Challenges to Consensual Politics: Democracy, Identity, and Populist Protest in the Alpine Region, (Eds.) Caramani, D. and Y. Mény, Bruxelles: Peter Lang, 209–227.
33. Mohrenberg, Steffen et al., (2018). Love at First Sight? Populism and Direct Democracy. SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3375589 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3375589
34. Mortensen J, Coupland N, Thøgerson J (eds) (2017). Style, mediation and change: sociolinguistic perspectives on talking media. OUP, Oxford.
35. Mudde, Cas; Rovira Kaltwasser, Cristóbal (2017). Populism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780190234874.
36. Mudde, Cas (2004). “The Populist Zeitgeist, Government and Opposition”. Government and Opposition An International Journal of Comparative Politics. Cambridge University Press
37. Rousseau J.J. (1965). Du contrat social [Social Contract], livre 4, chapitre 1er “Que la volonté générale est indestructible”, Paris, Gallimard, Bibliothèque de la Pléiade
38. SWI (2018). “How direct democracy has grown over the decades”. Berne, Switzerland: swissinfo.ch – the international service of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation.
39. SWI (2005). Swiss vote to join Schengen area. https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/swiss-vote-to-join-schengen-area/971128 (Accessed 12.07.2021).
40. SWI (2014). Le long chemin de la démocratie directe en Allemagne [The long path to direct democracy in Germany] https://www.swissinfo.ch/fre/democratiedirecte/la-suisse--un-modèle_le-long-chemin-de-la-démocratie-directe-en-allemagne/40573008 or Jens Hielscher, in Berlin, swissinfo.ch
41. Ruth, Saskia, and Welp, Yanina (2013). “How participative are Latin American Populist’s in public office?” ECPR General Conference, Glasgow.
42. Schmitter, Philippe C. and Karl, Terry L. (1991). “What Democracy is…and is Not”, Journal of Democracy.
43. The Local, (2018). How Switzerland's direct democracy system Works, https://www.thelocal.ch/20180523/how-switzerlands-direct-democracy-system-works (Accessed 19.11.2020).
44. The New York Times, (2009). Swiss Ban Building of Minarets on Mosques, https://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/30/world/europe/30swiss.html (Accessed 18.11.2020).
45. Tushnet, Mark (2019). Varieties of Populism. German Law Journal. 382–389 doi:10.1017/glj.2019.27
46. Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, (2017). “European Populism: Trends, Threats and Future Prospects”, Report, https://institute.global/insight/renewing-centre/european-populism-trends-threats-and-future-prospects (Accessed 28.11.2020)
47. Van Dijk, Teun A. (1995). Aims of Critical Discourse Analysis. Japanese Discourse. 1, 17-27.