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³ For details on the SVP see O. Mazzoleni, Nationalisme et Populisme en Suisse, Lausanne, Presses Polytechnqiues et Universitaires Romandes, 2003; Hanspeter Kriesi, Peter Selb, Romain Lachat, Simon Bornschier and Marc Helbling (eds), Der Aufstieg der SVP – acht Kantone im Vergleich, Zurich, NZZ, 2005; and O. Mazzoleni and D. Skenderovic, ‘The Rise and Impact of the Swiss People's Party’, in P. Delwit and P. Poirier (eds), The Extreme Right Parties and Power in Europe, Brussels, Editions de l'Université de Bruxelles, 2007, pp. 85–116.Google Scholar

⁴ Helms, L., ‘Five Ways of Institutionalizing Political Opposition’, Government and Opposition, 39: 1 (2004), pp. 45–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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⁷ W. Linder, ‘Political Culture’, in Ulrich Klöti, Peter Knoepfel, Hanspeter Kriesi, Wolf Linder, Yannis Papadopoulos and Pascal Sciarini (eds), Handbook of Swiss Politics, Zurich, NZZ, 2007, p. 28; and W. Linder, Schweizerische Demokratie, Bern, Haupt, 1999, pp. 24 and 246. Cf. also D. Skenderovic, ‘Immigration and the Radical Right in Switzerland’, Patterns of Prejudice, 41: 2 (2007), pp. 115–26; and P. Pulzer, ‘Is There Life after Dahl?’, in E. Kolinsky (ed.), Opposition in Western Europe, London, St Martin's Press, 1987, p. 56.Google Scholar

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⁹ A. Ladner, ‘Political Parties’, in Klöti et al., Handbook of Swiss Politics, p. 311; cf. also Bühlmann, M., Nicolet, Sarah and Selb, Peter, ‘National Elections in Switzerland’, Swiss Political Science Review, 12: 4 (2006), pp. 3–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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¹¹ J. Steinberg, Why Switzerland? Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1996, p. 75; and Kriesi and Trechsel, The Politics of Switzerland, p. 11; Barber, B., ‘Participation and Swiss Democracy’, Government and Opposition, 23: 1 (1988), p. 45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

¹² Maurice Duverger, cited in Sartori, G., ‘Opposition and Control’, Government and Opposition, 1: 2 (1965), p. 151;Google Scholar and Ionescu and de Madariaga, Opposition, pp. 144–5.

¹³ ‘Cabinet “Can Get By” Without Blocher’, Swissinfo, 14 December 2007.Google Scholar

¹⁴ Y. Papadopoulos, ‘Populism as the Other Side of Consociational Democracies’, in D. Caramani and Y. Mény (eds), Challenges to Consensual Politics, Brussels, Lang, 2005, p. 71. Cf. also L. Neidhart, Die politische Schweiz, Zurich, NZZ, 2002, p. 351; and D. Albertazzi, ‘Switzerland, Another “Populist” Paradise’, in D. Albertazzi and D. McDonnell (eds), 21st Century Populism, Basingstoke, Palgrave, 2007, pp. 100–18. Cf. also Hakhverdian, A. and Koop, C., ‘Consensus Democracy and Support for Populist Parties in Western Europe’, Acta Politica, 42: 4 (2007), pp. 401–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar Earlier had argued that there was the possibility of building a new opposition force around Social Democratic support.

¹⁵ Rose, R., ‘The End of Consensus in Austria and Switzerland’, Journal of Democracy, 11: 2 (2000), pp. 29–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

¹⁶ ‘Actualité 29 November 2003’, at http://www.svp.ch/index.html?page_id=817&l=3.Google Scholar

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¹⁸ Schmid, a Bernese moderate, had been elected in December 2000 in place of official SVP nominees. The party did not like this but did not then consider leaving the government, given that he had been on their ‘long’ short list. However, Schmid was never fully trusted and his adherence to his moderate line meant that the party got increasingly irritated with him, especially after he refused to step down when Blocher was deselected.Google Scholar

¹⁹ B. Wüthrich, ‘De la menace au pari risqué de l'opposition’, Le Temps, 14 December 2007; ‘Pas un acte revanchard’, interview with Christoph Mörgeli, Le Temps, 14 December 2007.Google Scholar

²⁰ For passive opposition see Dahl, R. A., ‘Introduction’, in Dahl, R. A. (ed.), Political Opposition in Western Democracies, New Haven, CT, Yale University Press, 1966, pp. xvi–xvii Google Scholar; and for a policy-focused view of Swiss opposition in the past see Libbey, K. R., ‘Initiative, Referenda and Socialism in Switzerland’, in Barker, R. (ed.), Studies in Opposition, Basingstoke, Macmillan, 1971, pp. 203–4.Google Scholar

²¹ ‘Gouvernement et Opposition – La Suisse devant de nouveaux défis’, SVP Service de Presse, 14 December 2007, at www.svp.ch/index.html?page_id=3457. Cf also W. Wobmann, ‘Quel style politique est plus utile au people ?’, SVP Service de Presse, 10 January 2008, at www.svp.ch/index.html?page_id=3476.Google Scholar

²² ‘UDC: Le parti va définer sa stratégie au printemps prochain’, Swissinfo, 14 December 2007.Google Scholar

²³ Gregor Rutz, quoted in 24Heures, 13 December 2007.Google Scholar

²⁴ The threat to the cantonal party emerged because, as a legal opinion sought by the leadership made clear, the SVP's rules did not recognize individual memberships. Hence she could not be excluded by the executive. Only the Graubünden party could do this.Google Scholar

²⁵ 'Suite de la procedure exclusion du parti', SVP press release, at www.svp.ch/index.html?page_id=36322.Google Scholar

²⁶ ‘Je voulais sauver le siège de l'UDC à Berne’, interview, Le Matin, 19 April 2008, at http://www.lematin.ch/fr/actu/suisse/je-voulais-sauver-le-siege-de-ludc-a-berne_9-138106.Google Scholar

²⁷ Because ‘referendum’ has a very specific meaning in the Swiss context, the late Christopher Hughes helpfully suggested that ‘votation’ was a better overall term for the various instruments of direct democracy.Google Scholar

²⁸ They chose to set up new parties rather than accept an offer from the FDP. The CVP has expressed its willingness to collaborate with the new formations.Google Scholar

²⁹ C. H. Church, ‘Setting Limits to Europhobia? Recent Developments in Swiss Euroscepticism’, in K. Arato and P. Kanisk (eds), Euroscepticism and European Integration, Zagreb, Political Science Research Center, 2009.Google Scholar

³⁰ Compare Ionescu and de Madariaga, Opposition, p. 2 with Parry, G., ‘Opposition Questions’, Government and Opposition, 32: 4 (1997), pp. 457–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarMany current textbooks on British and European politics do not really deal systematically and in detail with opposition.

³¹ L. Helms, Politische Opposition. Theorie und Praxis in westlichen Regierungssystemen, Opladen, Leske + Budrich, 2002, pp. 155–78.Google Scholar

³² R. A. Dahl, ‘Explanations’, in Dahl, Political Opposition, pp. 349–51; Blondel, J., ‘Political Opposition in the Contemporary World’, Government and Opposition, 32: 4 (1997), pp. 471–8,CrossRefGoogle Scholar suggests this is too complicated and that the categories could be consolidated.

³³ Warren, K. B. (ed.), The Violence Within: Culture and Political Opposition in Divided Nations, Boulder, CO, Westview, 1993, pp. 1–2 Google Scholar. Cf. also Blondel, ‘Political Opposition’, pp. 475–6; and Dahl, R. A., ‘Introduction’, in Dahl, R. A. (ed.), Regimes and Oppositions, New Haven, CT, Yale University Press, 1973, pp. 5–6.Google Scholar

³⁴ Kriesi, Hanspeter, Grande, Edgar, Lachat, Romain, Dolezal, Martin, Bornschier, Simon and Frey, Timotheos, ‘Globalization and the Transformation of the National Political Space’, European Journal of Political Research, 45: 6 (2006), pp. 921–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

³⁵ Grodsky, B., ‘Resource Dependency and Political Opportunities’, Government and Opposition, 42: 1 (2007), pp. 99–100.Google Scholar

³⁶ R. A. Dahl, ‘Patterns of Opposition’, in Dahl, Political Opposition, pp. 332–47. Here too Blondel, ‘Political Opposition’, pp. 468–9, like Gordon Smith, Politics in Western Europe, Aldershot, Gower, 1989, pp. 106–7, believes that the categories can helpfully be compressed into the twin questions of difference and strength.Google Scholar

³⁷ Dahl, ‘Patterns of Opposition’, pp. 344–6.Google Scholar

³⁸ Ibid., p. 356.Google Scholar

³⁹ von Beyme, K., ‘Parliamentary Opposition in Europe’, in Kolinsky, E. (ed.), Opposition in Western Europe, London, Croom Helm, 1987, pp. 31–3.Google Scholar

⁴⁰ Helms, L., ‘Five Ways of Institutionalizing Political Opposition’, Government and Opposition, 39: 1 (2004), p. 25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁴¹ Kaiser, A., ‘Parliamentary Opposition in Western Democracies’, Journal of Legislative Studies, 14: 1–2 (2008), pp. 20–45,CrossRefGoogle Scholar argues that the Westminster model is out of kilter with reality and that, such is the variation between states, there is no single Westminster model.

⁴² M. Engel, ‘Opposition's Attractions’, Financial Times Magazine, 29–30 March 2008, p. 8. Cf. G. Ponton, Opposition, London, Politics Association, 1976, pp. 18–20.Google Scholar

⁴³ Engel, ‘Opposition's Attractions’.Google Scholar

⁴⁴ Macridis, R., Modern Political Systems: Europe, 5th edn, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, Prentice Hall, 1963, p. 8.Google Scholar

⁴⁵ These are now divided between Conservatives (17) and Liberal Democrats (3).Google Scholar

⁴⁶ This is something demanded by the SVP on ‘Arena’ but denied in the name of pluralism.Google Scholar

⁴⁷ This is usually known as ‘Short’ money after the minister who devised the funding scheme in the 1970s. See Johnson, N., ‘Opposition in the British Political System’, Government and Opposition, 37: 4 (1997), pp. 487–509.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁴⁸ Ponton, Opposition, p. 21; R. M. Punnett, Front Bench Opposition, London, Heineman, 1973, pp. 27–32. In Switzerland, of course, tradition means that it is very hard to remove a sitting minister. This only happened three times between 1848 and 2002. Generally speaking, ministers decide the time of their own going, unless they are in trouble, when they can be persuaded to resign, as with Elizabeth Kopp in 1989.Google Scholar

⁴⁹ Ionescu and de Madariaga, Opposition, pp. 8–9. Cf. also Smith, Politics in Western Europe, p. 2.Google Scholar

⁵⁰ Mair, P. ‘Political Opposition and the EU’, Government and Opposition, 42: 1 (2007), pp. 1–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁵¹ Having two nominal representatives in government and too little time for direct democracy to work may have affected opposition. Cf. also Vatter, A., ‘Vom Extremtyp zum Normalfall? Die Schweizerische Konsensusdemokratie im Wandel’, Swiss Political Science Review, 14: 1 (2008), pp. 1–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁵² It could be argued that the SVP's strategy has something in common with that practised by opposition parties in non-democratic regimes. See Stepan, A., ‘Democratic Opposition and Democratization Theory’, in Stepan, A. (ed.), Arguing Comparative Politics, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2001, p. 662.Google Scholar

⁵³ The Club Helvétique, in its ‘Une Concordance pour aujourd'hui et demain’ of November 2006, drew attention to the threat posed to concordance by the SVP's populism and personalization of political conflicts.Google Scholar

⁵⁴ This is what Dahl would call System II opposition.Google Scholar

⁵⁵ Mudde, C., ‘The Populist Zeitgeist’, Government and Opposition, 39: 4 (2004), p. 542;CrossRefGoogle Scholar C. Mudde, Populist Radical Right Parties in Europe, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2007, pp. 296–7. Cf. also Y. Mény and Y. Surel, ‘The Constitutive Ambiguity of Populism’, H. Kitschelt, ‘Popular Disatisfaction with Democracy’, and H. G. Betz, ‘Conditions Favouring the Success and Failure’, all in Y. Mény and Y. Surel (eds), Democracies and the Populist Challenge, Basingstoke, Palgrave, 2002, pp. 2, 7 and 191–3 and 201–2 respectively; Hakhverdian and Koop, ‘Consensus Democracy and Support for Populist Parties’, pp. 402–5; and On direct democracy as populism see M. Canovan, Populism, London, Junction Books, 1981, p. 198.

⁵⁶ Albertazzi, in Albertazzi and McDonnell, 21st Century Populism. Cf. also Mudde, ‘The Populist Zeitgeist’, pp. 559–61; and McGann, A. and Kitschelt, H., ‘The Radical Rights in the Alps’, Party Politics, 11: 2 (2005), pp. 147–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁵⁷ E. Ivarsflaten, ‘What Unites Right-Wing Populists in Western Europe? Re-Examining Grievance Mobilization Models in Seven Successful Cases’, Comparative Political Studies, 41: 3 (2008), pp. 3–23; and Skenderovic, D., ‘Immigration and the Radical Right in Switzerland’, Patterns of Prejudice, 41: 2 (2007), pp. 115–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar Cf. also H. G. Betz, ‘Mobilizing Resentment in the Alps’, in Caramani and Mény, Challenges to Consensual Politics, pp. 154–60; and Albertazzi and McDonnell, ‘Switzerland: Another “Populist” Paradise’, pp. 100–18.

⁵⁸ This was made even clearer in February 2009 when Brunner called for new rules restricting election to the Federal Council to candidates duly nominated by their party, in return for which the SVP would drop its own exclusion clause.Google Scholar

⁵⁹ Betz, H. G., Right-Wing Populism in Western Europe, New York, St Martin's Press, 1994.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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⁶¹ Albertazzi, D. and McDonnell, D., ‘The Lega Nord’, West European Politics, 28: 5 (2005), pp. 952–72.CrossRefGoogle ScholarCf. also A. Wilson, ‘Election Report’, West European Politics, 32: 1 (2009), pp. 215–19.

⁶² Rydgren, J., ‘Right Wing Popular Parties in Denmark’, West European Politics, 27: 3 (2004), pp. 474–502.CrossRefGoogle ScholarCf. also K. K. Pederson, ‘Election Report’, West European Politics, 31: 5 (2008), pp. 1040–8.

⁶³ Muller, W. and Fallend, F., ‘Patterns of Party Competition in Austria’, West European Politics, 27: 5 (2004), pp. 801–35;Google Scholar D. Art, ‘Reacting to the Radical Right’, Party Politics, 13: 3 (2007), pp. 331–50. Cf. also K. Luther, ‘Election Report’, Western European Politics, 31: 5 (2008), pp. 1004–5.

⁶⁴ Interestingly, Walter Wobman, an SVP MP, attended an anti-Lisbon conference run by the FPO in early February 2009 and attended by parties such as the Danish People's Party, Vlaams Belang and the Front National.Google Scholar

⁶⁵ Mény and Surel, ‘Conditions Favouring the Success and Failure’, p. 18; and Mudde, ‘The Populist Zeitgeist’, p. 563. Cf. also P. Taggart, Populism, Buckingham, Open University Press, 2000, pp. 1 and 87–8; and D. Albertazzi, ‘Extreme or Institutionalised? Swiss and Italian Populist Leaders in Government’, paper presented at 58th PSA Conference, Swansea 1–3 April, 2008, p. 7.Google Scholar

⁶⁶ The Selects07 report by G. Lutz, Elections fédérales: Participation et choix electorals, Lausanne, FORS, 2008, pp. 31–3, is cautious about the scale of the party's potential, while recognizing that it is better than the other parties at mobilizing it. Cf. also Häusermann, S., Mach, A. and Papadopoulos, Y., ‘From Corporatism to Partisan Politics’, Swiss Political Science Review, 10: 2 (2004), pp. 48–51.Google Scholar

⁶⁷ Batt, H., ‘Die Transformation der Konkordanzdemokratie’, Zeitschrift für Politikwissenschaft, 15: 2 (2005), pp. 345–71;Google Scholar J. Steiner, ‘The Consociational Theory and Switzerland – Revisited’, Acta Politica, 37: 1 (2002), pp. 1–21; Vatter, ‘Vom Extremtyp zum Normalfall?’.

⁶⁸ C. Bolliger, Konkordanz und Konfliktlinien in der Schweiz, Bern, Haupt, 2007; W. Linder, C. Bolliger and R. Zürcher, Gespaltene Schweiz – geeinte Schweiz, Baden, hier + jetzt, 2008.Google Scholar

⁶⁹ Some years ago Kitschelt admitted that there were gaps in knowledge of Switzerland (The Radical Right in Western Europe, Ann Arbor, University of Michigan Press, 1995, p. 277). Things do not seem to have improved. Thus Kessler, A. and Freeman, G., ‘Support for Extreme Right Wing Parties’, Comparative European Politics, 3: 3 (2005), p. 283,Google Scholar mention the SVP as an extreme party but then ignore it, while J. Evans, ‘The Dynamics of Social Change in Radical Right-Wing Populist Party Support’, Comparative European Politics, 3: 1 (2005), p. 80, seems to believe that the Swiss Democrats are the main radical right party.

⁷⁰ Helms, L., ‘Studying Parliamentary Opposition’, Journal of Legislative Studies, 14: 1–2 (2008), pp. 7–9 and 45.Google Scholar

⁷¹ O. Mazzoleni, ‘Une année difficile pour la droite nationaliste’, interview on SwissInfo, 24 December 2008.Google Scholar