Swiss Democracy
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Reviews / Votes
'Much can be learned from this study. But the lesson of this book is not: do it like the Swiss, and everything will be fine. Rather: study the history and the institutions of Switzerland, adopt what seems to work and avoid the many pitfalls'.
- Jürg Steiner , University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA and University of Bern, Switzerland, on the first edition (1994)
'This new edition of Swiss Democracy lives up to both the far-reaching changes that the Swiss political system has experienced over the past decades under the influence of Europeanization and party system polarization, as well as to the dynamic development of political science research on Swiss politics. It is essential reading for scholars and practitioners alike who are interested in a critical appraisal of the development and dynamic development of Swiss consensus democracy'.
- Silja Häusermann , University of Zurich, Switzerland
' Swiss Democracy provides a comprehensive and original analysis of the emergence, development, and various definitive features of this unique and complex political system - one characterized by extraordinary diffusion and sharing of powers among branches and levels of government as well as numerous constituencies. The authors explain the particularities of Swiss consensus democracy, federalism, direct democracy, and position in European and international politics, while also providing insightful comparative perspectives and potential lessons. This fourth fully revised edition sheds light on continuity as much as numerous changes and challenges to Swiss policies, politics and polity. It is a must-read for scholars of Swiss politics as well as comparative federalism and government that is also remarkably accessible for students, practitioners and a wider audience'.
- Jared Sonnicksen , Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany
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Sean Mueller obtained his PhD in Politics & Government from the University of Kent, UK, in 2013. His thesis dealt with decentralisation within the 26 Swiss cantons. Prior to his being in the UK, he worked for two years as Research Fellow at the Institute of Federalism of the University of Fribourg, Switzerland. Since 2013, he has been (Senior) Lecturer and Researcher at the Institute of Political Science, University of Berne, Switzerland. He also taught Swiss and Comparative Politics at the Universities of Lausanne (2016, 2017 and again in 2020) and Lucerne (since 2019). He has published extensively on Swiss federalism, direct democracy, and power sharing, and notably co-wrote a new version of the German-language textbook Schweizerische Demokratie with Wolf Linder in 2017.