Sicherheit 2011 - Center for Security Studies (CSS) - ETH Zürich

Executive SummaryGeneral feeling of security: The Swiss feel secure but assess the international situationin less optimistic terms than they did one year ago. While the level of optimismregarding the national future and the general feeling of security had declinedslightly in 2010, the results of January 2011 show an upward trend. In particular,optimism regarding Switzerland’s future significantly increased by 15 percentagepoints. In the last twenty years, the Swiss have rarely felt as secure and optimisticabout Switzerland as they did in January 2011. At the same time, the share of thosewho believe that the global political situation is becoming gloomier increased considerablyby 11 percentage points.Trust in institutions: The overall ranking remained almost unchanged comparedto previous years: The police forces receive the highest level of trust. They are followedby the courts and this year also by the economy. The electorate has mediumlevels of trust in the federal authorities and the armed forces and low levels of trustin the media and political parties. Notably, this year the courts lost a considerableamount of trust, while trust in the political parties and, for the second time, in theFederal Parliament saw a moderate decline. Like it did in 2010, the Swiss economyis the only institution to gain trust.Autonomy and willingness to open up: The pessimistic view of the global politicalsituation seems to go hand in hand with the wish for greater autonomy. Sincethe publication of the first “Security Survey”, the Swiss have never been as skepticalabout the EU as they are this year. Within a year, support for closer relations withthe EU or a bid for EU membership has strongly declined by 13 and 12 percentagepoints respectively. Meanwhile, Switzerland’s economic and political independencehas never been more vehemently demanded than this year. Cooperation with theUN is supported by a constant two-thirds majority. International cooperationwithout institutional commitments compromising Switzerland’s sovereignty isstill endorsed by a majority, although support for such a cooperation has slightlydecreased.Neutrality: Abolishing Swiss neutrality remains unthinkable with almost ninetypercent of the Swiss standing behind this principle. In fact, there is a long-termtrend of increasing approval of neutrality. The solidarity and identity function of15