Scientific article
English

Party, Regional and Linguistic Proportionality Under Majoritarian Rules: Swiss Federal Council Elections

ContributorsStojanovic, Nenadorcid
Published inSwiss Political Science Review, vol. 22, no. 1, p. 41-58
Publication date2016
Abstract

The elections to the Swiss Federal Council in December 2015 re-established a system of party-centred concordance, cherished in consociational theory, consisting of two representatives of the Swiss People's Party, two Radicals, two Social Democrats and one Christian Democrat. At the same time, the government has rarely been as unbalanced in terms of the representation of Switzerland's languages and regions. The article analyses the concept of concordance with regard to both aspects of governmental inclusiveness. It also highlights the crucial role of electoral rules used in governmental elections. It argues that they resemble the Alternative Vote, a majoritarian electoral system that has been criticized in consociational theory but prescribed by the rival, centripetalist approach to power sharing.

Keywords
  • Government
  • Switzerland
  • Concordance
  • Consociationalism
  • Centripetalism
  • Electoral
  • Systems
Affiliation entities Not a UNIGE publication
Citation (ISO format)
STOJANOVIC, Nenad. Party, Regional and Linguistic Proportionality Under Majoritarian Rules: Swiss Federal Council Elections. In: Swiss Political Science Review, 2016, vol. 22, n° 1, p. 41–58. doi: 10.1111/spsr.12208
Main files (1)
Article (Published version)
accessLevelRestricted
Identifiers
Additional URL for this publicationhttp://doi.wiley.com/10.1111/spsr.12208
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