Bøger af Hanspeter Kriesi

An authoritative survey of the processes and policies of the Swiss political system, revealing the richness of its history and institutions.

The contributions to this volume are divided into three parts, each introduced by one of the editors, plus a general introduction which discusses the peculiarities of the Swiss case of state formation and nation building. The five chapters of Part I provide an idea of the variety of approaches and perspectives which currently exist in the study of nationhood and national identity. The authors of these contributions clarify basic concepts; show the deep and intractable ambiguity of classic distinctions; and point to new forces within nation-states which have seriously weakened their internal cohesion. All of these considerations give rise to new challenges for nationalist representations of the world and established institutions of social integration. Under present conditions, national identity and political solidarity have to compete with other, crosscutting ways of creating boundaries: ethnic and cultural fragmentation, gender and sexual divides, or divisions in the labor market. In Part II, the recent experiences of a selected number of countries--Belgium, Austria, Germany, Croatia, and Israel--are presented to illustrate the great diversity of current challenges to national identities. Processes such as globalization and European integration have had an impact on all of them, but mobilization by regional movements, reunification of separate territorial parts, the differentiation of formerly homogeneous ethnic identities, the sequels of war, and the country-specific historical legacies, interact with these global processes to constitute many different challenges for national identities and nationhood. Finally, the two contributions in Part III show that the process of European integration gives rise to different images and fulfills different functions for the various nations involved, but it has not yet been able to shape a new European identity.

The present volume makes an attempt to adjust the perspective of the political process approach to a world in which political opportunities, mobilizing structures, framing processes and collective action of social movements are no longer confined to national political contexts.

"Democracy is the worst form of government - except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time." Challenging Democracy tries to get to the bottom of the dilemma expressed in this world-famous quote from Winston Churchill.

Direct Democratic Choice sets out to understand how the citizens actually decide in direct-democratic votes. Author Hanspeter Kriesi has analyzed nearly twenty years of post-election surveys in Switzerland (1981-1999), which he has contextualized according to the various political issues and the relevant arguments provided by the political elites. This book's core argument is that the citizens who participate in direct-democratic votes make competent choices. Kriesi's extensive empirical research shows that the majority of these voters arrive at their decisions on the basis of arguments about the advantages and disadvantages of the available options. The less competent and less interested citizens either do not vote or, if they do, employ heuristic shortcuts allowing them to make approximately reasonable decisions. Kriesi provides strong support for an optimistic view of direct-democratic decision-making but also indicates that this process, wherever it occurs, can be improved by proper institutional design and by appropriate strategies enacted by the political elite.

The present volume makes an attempt to adjust the perspective of the political process approach to a world in which political opportunities, mobilizing structures, framing processes and collective action of social movements are no longer confined to national political contexts.