From Loose Alliances to Professional Political Players: How Swiss Party Groups Changed

Abstract

Swiss parliamentary party groups have undergone a process of professionalization over the course of the last few decades. Swiss parties increasingly resemble party groups in established and more professionalized Western European parliamentary systems. Party unity has increased and party leaderships have started using instruments to strengthen party unity, in view of which party group members increasingly accept behavioural rules and norms. Our analysis suggests that Swiss parties have professionalized over the course of the last thirty years, and we demonstrate that this change has resulted from the ideological polarization in the Swiss political landscape, and conscious effort on the part of Swiss party group leaders. Thus, we contribute to the on-going debate about party change and the question of what drives the development of parties. The development of the Swiss parties is documented using data from three parliamentary surveys from the last thirty years, and two interview rounds with party group leaders, their staff and political experts.

The 2015 National Elections in Switzerland: Renewed Polarization and Shift to the Right

“…Although new to Switzerland, such strategies are already well-known elsewhere, most prominently in the U.S. On the other hand, the Swiss People's Party engaged in a costly music video production in order to launch a campaign song, starring their most prominent party exponents. These occurrences also highlight the ongoing professionalization and consolidation of national campaign headquarters and the request for unitary appearance (Bühlmann, Gerber, & Zumbach, forthcoming; see also Bailer & Bütikofer, 2015). (Kriesi et al, 2006;Bornschier, 2015), nine in ten national ads of the Swiss People's Party referred to the issue of immigration and/or asylum.…”

Transparency in parliamentary voting

“…Adding to the parties principal role is the use of disciplining measures. Bailer and Bütikofer (2015) document allocations to unpopular committees as punishment for party members from the Lower House deviating from party lines. A former member of the Upper House supported this view in one of the interviews, "Following the party line is one element in securing seats in commissions.…”

“…During the interviews described in Section 3.2, the party secretaries from all four large parties acknowledged extensive prior consultations, as well as the distribution of supporting materials and guidelines before votes in the Lower House. Bailer and Bütikofer (2015) document that the biggest parties issue official voting recommendations to its members for roughly 54 to 85% of all votes. However, the recommendation is not made public.…”

Campaign Strategies in the 2015 Swiss National Elections: Nationalization, Coordination, and Personalization

“…Analyses of 80 online media channels show that in 2015, the SVP still gained substantial news coverage through the "initiative against mass immigration" that was accepted by the people in February 2014 (B€ uhlmann et al 2015). 3 Recent findings seem to underline the growing importance of homogeneity: while in 1975, only one third of the MPs of the Social Democrats and the Swiss People's Party consented that it is important for a party to appear united, in 2007 it were 82% and 92%, respectively (Bailer and B€ utikofer 2015). 4 Here, we understand professionalization as a party's attempt to harmonize its electoral campaign in terms of crafting the messages and some aspects of advertisement designwithin and between its cantonal party sections.…”

“… Recent findings seem to underline the growing importance of homogeneity: while in 1975, only one third of the MPs of the Social Democrats and the Swiss People's Party consented that it is important for a party to appear united, in 2007 it were 82% and 92%, respectively (Bailer and Bütikofer ). …”