A country without minarets: analysis of the background and meaning of the Swiss vote of 29 November 2009

Abstract

The Swiss popular vote of 29 November 2009 banning the building of minarets reflects wider trends across Europe regarding Islam. It cannot be reduced merely to anti-immigration feelings. Minarets have been used as a symbol of what Islam is alleged to represent. Islam is being constructed as an ideological threat in a way that is to a large extent disconnected from the local Muslim population and largely derives from wider developments and perceptions. The article provides an analysis of the background of the vote and of the various reasons that contributed to the outcome.

How religion came into play: ‘Muslim’ as a category of practice in immigrant integration debates

“…In Switzerland, the category 'Muslim' was already quite intensively applied during the 1990s. The most intense application of the category, however, is related to the people's initiative for a ban on minarets in the Swiss constitution, initiated by the Swiss People's Party and the smaller Federal Democratic Union (Eidgenössisch-Demokratische Union) (see Mayer 2011). This referendum was debated throughout the year 2009 and strongly opposed by all other political parties.…”

Sow the wind, reap the whirlwind? Mobilization cascades in direct democratic initiatives

“…First, direct democratic procedures are more likely to be used to further interest group preferences than to further the preferences of ordinary citizens [48,49,50]. Second, direct democracy as a proceduralist institution holds the potential to override important normative aspects of democracy, such as minority rights [51,52,53,54,55].…”

Breaking Taboos and ‘Mainstreaming the Extreme’

“…the broken taboo) can be gauged most effectively in the immediate aftermath of the three landmark events mentioned above. The Swiss November 2009 referendum produced such a dramatic majority (57.5%) in favour of the minaret ban (and through, ostensibly, the most democratic of electoral devices) that it left little doubt about the level of popular support for the initiative (Meyer 2011). The Swiss People's Party / Schweizerische Volkspartei (SVP) itself interpreted the outcome as a further open-ended mandate to introduce additional restrictive measures in the future, both with regard to Islam in particular and to immigration as a whole; a year after the minaret ban vote, the SVP forced and won yet another referendum, this time allowing the automatic deportation of immigrants convicted of criminal activity (NYT 2010).…”