National Sovereignty vs. International Cooperation: Policy Choices in Trade‐Off Situations

Abstract

The trade-off between international cooperation gains and national sovereignty has become increasingly salient in recent years. This paper examines how voters assess this trade-off in Switzerland, focusing on the choice between the economic benefits of EU integration versus sovereign immigration control. Using survey data, we identify voters for whom this choice is not clear, either because they are cross-pressured (favouring Swiss-EU bilateral treaties, while opposing increased immigration) or because they do not have clear preferences. We show that these are sizeable groups within the Swiss electorate and that in particular the potentially crosspressured mainly consist of politically mobilized, high-income voters, supportive of right-wing parties. Among the potentially cross-pressured and voters with indistinct preferences, leaning towards the SVP strongly predicts a preference for immigration control over sustaining cooperation with the EU. Beyond this, our findings suggest that political variables have stronger explanatory power than individual-level economic vulnerabilities in predicting choice.

Torn Between International Cooperation and National Sovereignty: Voter Attitudes in Trade‐off Situations in Switzerland

“…Finally, by replicating and extending earlier research on the control‐cooperation trade‐off (Emmenegger et al, 2018), we empirically examine the dynamics of these developments between the 2015 and 2019 parliamentary elections. In 2015, many voters believed that ending the Free Movement of Persons would be possible without terminating the Swiss‐EU bilateral treaties (Sciarini et al, 2015).…”

“…Our research note provides such an analysis by leveraging 2015 and 2019 Swiss Election Study (“Selects”) surveys (Selects, 2016, 2020). Building on earlier research (Emmenegger et al, 2018), it empirically examines, first, how this trade‐off manifests itself in Switzerland, second, how it shapes voters’ attitudes towards Swiss‐EU relations, and third, how attitudes towards this trade‐off have changed over time.…”

“…The research note makes three theoretically and empirically relevant contributions: First, it shows that in Switzerland, as in other countries, the sovereignty‐cooperation trade‐off has become more complex and is no longer concentrated on the Right of the political spectrum. In addition to the long‐standing control ‐ cooperation trade ‐ off on the Right between sovereign immigration control and international cooperation (Armingeon & Lutz, 2020; Emmenegger et al, 2018; Milic, 2015; Sciarini et al, 2015), a new trade‐off between sovereign social protection and international cooperation has emerged in recent years that particularly confronts the Left. We argue that the emergence of this second variant of the sovereignty‐cooperation trade‐off (the protection ‐ cooperation trade ‐ off) has considerably complicated Swiss EU politics.…”

Introduction to the Special Issue “The 2015 Swiss National Elections”

“…This is the case for example for the relations between Switzerland and the European Union (see Emmenegger et al. 2018 ) and citizens’ perceptions of party competence on five salience issues (see Petitpas and Sciarini 2018 ) . Innovative approaches coming from political psychology could also find their way into Selects thanks to the inclusion of some questions on the personality traits of voters (see Ackermann et al.…”

Switzerland‐EU Relations. Lessons for the UK after Brexit?PaoloDardanelli and OscarMazzoleni (eds.) Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge (2021), 224 p., ISBN: 9780367482053

“…This includes research on Swiss‐EU‐related public opinion and voting behavior (e.g., Emmenegger et al. 2018; Lutz 2020; Milic 2015; Strijbis and Polavieja 2018), the role of referendums for Swiss‐EU relations (Heidbreder et al. 2019), the Europeanization of Swiss politics (e.g.…”