Staying away from the mainstream: the case of the Swiss People’s Party

Abstract

When radical right-wing populist parties acquire experience as part of a coalition government, it raises the question of whether they will begin to act more like mainstream parties. Of course, this could be a crucial point for parties that initially emerge as anti-establishment and/or niche parties and then go on to enter into a government coalition following a period of electoral success. This issue is also important for moderate parties in marginal positions within the party system that undergo a process of de-mainstreaming or conversion towards radical-right and anti-establishment stances (e.g., De Lange 2007; Meny and Surel 2000: 260-262). Another scenario, probably more rare, is that of parties that form part of a government coalition and simultaneously experience a process of radicalisation and thence develop anti-establishment positions. This chapter examines a case of this kind, namely that of the Swiss People’s Party (the Schweizerische Volkspartei, SVP), which has risen to the fore as Switzerland’s leading party since the 1990s. While it appears to resemble the many other radical right-wing populist parties that have gained experience in government coalitions around Western Europe, it is the only party considered to belong to this family that has been continuously present as part of the national government coalition, without interruption either before or during its period of de-mainstreaming, except for a very short period in 2008 (Mazzoleni 2013a). So how has the SVP managed to be enduringly present in government,while to some extent remaining a radicalised, anti-establishment, and niche party? Has its participation in government lately changed in such a way that it has needed to become more moderate and more credible? To respond to these questions we must acknowledge that political parties are often faced with difficult choices and ambivalent situations, linked to both internal and external factors (Muller and Strom 1999; Strom 1990; Wolinetz 2002). In the case of the SVP it is important to underline that its strategy was based on a new leadership and a profound organisational change, and that it also had to take account of a specific institutional and political pattern: the country is governed by a longterm, stable coalition of parties without a common government programme, and allows for particularly extensive referendum rights that can be used by allparties, including those in the government coalition, to contest any law passed by parliament and to propose changes to the federal constitution (Burgos et al. 2011; Deschouwer 2001; Kerr 1987; Mazzoleni and Rayner 2009). In this chapter, I will first show how the SVP has shifted from a conservativemoderate wing towards a radical right-wing populist profile and how it has been able to consolidate a focus on certain specific issues and an anti-establishment stance. Second, I will analyse how the party managed to prioritise a vote-seeking strategy while it was part of a government coalition, focusing on how it fulfilled its role as a member of the federal government and its use of the referendum tools allowed by Swiss democracy. In the third and final part I will devote attention to the party’s strategy dilemmas, examining a number of critical episodes from its split in the 2000s to the difficulties involved in implementing a consistent electoral strategy in the most recent federal elections.