Chocolate Democracy

Abstract

Abstract Swiss citizens take pride in their export industry. Although chocolate figures among those products that the global public most frequently associates with its export industry, Switzerland also stands out thanks to the unique features of its model of democracy. Swiss citizens take pride in their democracy. This is mirrored by scholarly claims that Swiss democracy could offer ‘possible solutions to conflict in multicultural societies’. This chapter asks how four main pillars of Swiss democracy—direct democracy, the consensus-oriented institutions, the consociational democracy model, and federalism—are received abroad, and how they are reflected in the literature on comparative politics. Additionally, it analyses whether and how Swiss democracy promotion abroad builds on these supposed strengths of Swiss democracy. It turns out that the consociational democracy of Switzerland, which is the most relevant aspect to the Swiss democracy promotion and peacebuilding agenda, dates back to the nineteenth and twentieth century, and the cultural divide that was the basis on which the Swiss consociational model was built is no longer relevant. The Swiss promotion of democracy relies primarily on Switzerland’s past. This does no harm for its exports: political history has no expiration date.