Twenty-First Century Populism: The Spectre of Western European ...

110 Twenty-First Century Populism
heaven, Swiss politics can thus be depicted and perceived as a matter for the
usual powerful few to decide, following a certain amount of horse-trading
and strictly behind closed doors.
What is interesting, of course, is that those who benefit from this slide
towards ‘corporatist democracy’ are sometimes the very same people who
vociferously complain that citizens are being ignored. Not only Cristoph
Blocher, a wealthy businessman who can also count on the support of AUNS,
falls into this category, but the founder of the LDT, too. Giuliano Bignasca is
another politician who has used his financial muscle to advance his own
political agenda, for instance by providing essential funding to his party’s
own medium, the newspaper Il Mattino della Domenica.
In a context in which identification with, and trust in, the governing parties
has declined sharply since the beginning of the 1990s (Kobach, 1993:
90; Oscar Mazzoleni, 2003b: 56–59; Ladner, 2003), with all parties losing
members year-by-year − up to 30 per cent since the 1960s − the SVP/UDC is
the only organization whose membership has in fact grown. Despite various
signs of detachment from the political system in fact − turnout at national
elections being the lowest in western Europe − when people feel able to
affect the course of events, more of them participate and turn out to vote.
Controversial referendums such as that for the ‘abolition of the Army’ in
1989 (attracting a 68.9 per cent turnout), or on membership of the EEA (78.3
per cent), have been well attended. So, in the general climate of disillusionment
with political parties, propaganda campaigns that touch on emotive
issues such as crime, defence, immigration, the EU and political events that
are seen as worth participating in, do generate higher turnouts.
Consociationalism makes it impossible for an opposition to offer a clear
alternative to the electorate since there is no chance that parties will alternate
in power and then pursue ‘their own’ programmes. As a consequence,
in Switzerland, the role of opposition is often ‘taken over’ by direct democracy.
The SVP/UDC has learned to exploit the opportunities this provides by
breaking the rule of governmental solidarity and keeping one foot in and
one foot out of government. This is more easily done here than elsewhere
given how the Swiss system works: since it is understood that all members
of the collegial government are expected to defend collegial decisions, their
‘own’ parties are not at all embarrassed at ‘having to speak’ against their
own representatives in government. The same has happened to the LDT in
Ticino, which has at times found itself supporting more radical positions
than its own governmental representative. Furthermore, the SVP/UDC has
sponsored or launched several referendums on foreign policy, illegal immigration
and asylum and, in so doing, has reinforced its image as the ‘odd
one out’ − a logic which, in part, recalls that followed by the Lega Nord in
Italy (Albertazzi and McDonnell, 2005) − although the Lega must often
satisfy itself with symbolic initiatives. Through the means of direct democracy,
the SVP/UDC, even when ultimately defeated, can claim to have