Adrian Vatter

• Prof. Dr.rer.pol.
• University of Bern

In their contribution, Tsebelis and Nardi (2016a) examine the impact of constitutional design on economic performance. The authors find evidence of a significant negative relationship between constitutional length and economic performance. As we will show here, the results of Tsebelis and Nardi (2016a) are not robust. Several minor adjustments to t...

The effects of formal constitutional amendment rules are still contested, yielding mixed and inconsistent findings. The key issue lies in overlooking the broader institutional context in which amending clauses are situated. This article presents a novel theoretical argument centered on the “institutional embeddedness.” Empirically, we leverage a un...

The Swiss political system with its developed concordance, direct democracy, and federal structures, is in many respects both a model and a special example of a functioning democracy in the 21st century. This textbook, now in its fifth fully updated edition, covers the main political institutions and actors in the Swiss political system, places the...

The Swiss political system with its developed concordance, direct democracy, and federal structures, is in many respects both a model and a special example of a functioning democracy in the 21st century. This textbook, now in its fifth fully updated edition, covers the main political institutions and actors in the Swiss political system, places the...

The Swiss political system with its developed concordance, direct democracy, and federal structures, is in many respects both a model and a special example of a functioning democracy in the 21st century. This textbook, now in its fifth fully updated edition, covers the main political institutions and actors in the Swiss political system, places the...

The Swiss political system with its developed concordance, direct democracy, and federal structures, is in many respects both a model and a special example of a functioning democracy in the 21st century. This textbook, now in its fifth fully updated edition, covers the main political institutions and actors in the Swiss political system, places the...

The Swiss political system with its developed concordance, direct democracy, and federal structures, is in many respects both a model and a special example of a functioning democracy in the 21st century. This textbook, now in its fifth fully updated edition, covers the main political institutions and actors in the Swiss political system, places the...

The Swiss political system with its developed concordance, direct democracy, and federal structures, is in many respects both a model and a special example of a functioning democracy in the 21st century. This textbook, now in its fifth fully updated edition, covers the main political institutions and actors in the Swiss political system, places the...

The Swiss political system with its developed concordance, direct democracy, and federal structures, is in many respects both a model and a special example of a functioning democracy in the 21st century. This textbook, now in its fifth fully updated edition, covers the main political institutions and actors in the Swiss political system, places the...

The Swiss political system with its developed concordance, direct democracy, and federal structures, is in many respects both a model and a special example of a functioning democracy in the 21st century. This textbook, now in its fifth fully updated edition, covers the main political institutions and actors in the Swiss political system, places the...

The Swiss political system with its developed concordance, direct democracy, and federal structures, is in many respects both a model and a special example of a functioning democracy in the 21st century. This textbook, now in its fifth fully updated edition, covers the main political institutions and actors in the Swiss political system, places the...

The Swiss political system with its developed concordance, direct democracy, and federal structures, is in many respects both a model and a special example of a functioning democracy in the 21st century. This textbook, now in its fifth fully updated edition, covers the main political institutions and actors in the Swiss political system, places the...

The Swiss political system with its developed concordance, direct democracy, and federal structures, is in many respects both a model and a special example of a functioning democracy in the 21st century. This textbook, now in its fifth fully updated edition, covers the main political institutions and actors in the Swiss political system, places the...

The Swiss political system with its developed concordance, direct democracy, and federal structures, is in many respects both a model and a special example of a functioning democracy in the 21st century. This textbook, now in its fifth fully updated edition, covers the main political institutions and actors in the Swiss political system, places the...

The Swiss political system with its developed concordance, direct democracy, and federal structures, is in many respects both a model and a special example of a functioning democracy in the 21st century. This textbook, now in its fifth fully updated edition, covers the main political institutions and actors in the Swiss political system, places the...

The Swiss political system with its developed concordance, direct democracy, and federal structures, is in many respects both a model and a special example of a functioning democracy in the 21st century. This textbook, now in its fifth fully updated edition, covers the main political institutions and actors in the Swiss political system, places the...

The Swiss political system with its developed concordance, direct democracy, and federal structures, is in many respects both a model and a special example of a functioning democracy in the 21st century. This textbook, now in its fifth fully updated edition, covers the main political institutions and actors in the Swiss political system, places the...

The Swiss political system with its developed concordance, direct democracy, and federal structures, is in many respects both a model and a special example of a functioning democracy in the 21st century. This textbook, now in its fifth fully updated edition, covers the main political institutions and actors in the Swiss political system, places the...

The Swiss political system with its developed concordance, direct democracy, and federal structures, is in many respects both a model and a special example of a functioning democracy in the 21st century. This textbook, now in its fifth fully updated edition, covers the main political institutions and actors in the Swiss political system, places the...

The Oxford Handbook of Swiss Politics provides a comprehensive analysis of the many different facets of the Swiss political system and of the major developments in modern Swiss politics. Its breadth offers analyses relevant not only to political science but also to international relations, European studies, history, sociology, law, and economics. T...

The Oxford Handbook of Swiss Politics provides a comprehensive analysis of the many different facets of the Swiss political system and of the major developments in modern Swiss politics. Its breadth offers analyses relevant not only to political science but also to international relations, European studies, history, sociology, law, and economics. T...

The Oxford Handbook of Swiss Politics provides a comprehensive analysis of the many different facets of the Swiss political system and of the major developments in modern Swiss politics. Its breadth offers analyses relevant not only to political science but also to international relations, European studies, history, sociology, law, and economics. T...

Which patterns of democracy perform best? Although a decades-long research tradition has fairly robustly suggested that consensual democracies outperform their Westminster-style majoritarian counterparts, the scope of previous studies has been limited to ‘normal times’. In this article, the endogenous context of the COVID-19 pandemic is leveraged t...

This study examines the personality traits of candidates for the Swiss government and how they are related to the candidates’ electoral chances. Switzerland as a paradigmatic consensual democracy is an ideal test case to examine the connection between the specific pattern of a democracy and the government personalities that fit it. We argue that th...

How did the Swiss federation perform in the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic? Located in the heart of Europe and closely integrated into transborder commuter flows, Switzerland was early and strongly, yet territorially very unevenly, affected by the pandemic. In order to combat the spread of the disease, its federal system, which bestows extensi...

Second chambers frequently form part of national institutional configurations, but their impact on policy making can vary from negligible to all-important veto players. The standard approach is to assess their importance via two dimensions: formal powers and compositional differences vis-à-vis the first chamber. In this paper, we conceptualise a th...

This article engages with Meg Russell and Ruxandra Serban's (2021) argument that the Westminster model is ‘a concept stretched beyond repair’ that deserves ‘to be retired’. We examine the logic, theory and methods that led to such a powerful, potent and provocative argument. We suggest their approach may have inadvertently ‘muddied’ an already mudd...

This paper investigates time variations in the implementation of legislative requests by the Swiss government. Combining the literature on executive–legislative relations with findings from implementation research, we focus on the procedural level and argue that implementation delays can occur because the government does not want to, cannot or shou...

Over the past decades, decentralization has become the new paradigm in how states should organize power territorially. Carefully planned institutional re-designs are the most visible expression thereof. Yet the Great Recession of 2007–2009 has pushed governments into the opposite direction, i.e., towards centralization, to better weather the fiscal...

The 22nd volume of the yearbook is designed as a broad compendium providing a current overview of various aspects of federal and regional polity, politics and policies. The total of 32 articles relate to following sections: Twelve articles on the main topic, federal management of the COVID-19 pandemic (i.a. Minister of Health Jens Spahn). Three art...

Das neue Nachschlagewerk zum Bundesrat ist die erste politikwissenschaftliche Analyse der Schweizer Regierung. Sie beleuchtet die Besonderheiten der Schweizer Exekutive und Politik aus sozialwissenschaftlicher Perspektive. Was braucht es, um Bundesrat zu werden? Welche Persönlichkeitseigenschaften zeichnen unsere Regierungsmitglieder aus? Wie weit...

Die Politikwissenschaftler Sean Müller und Adrian Vatter legen die erste umfassende Darstellung des Ständerats vor. Sie zeigen das Stöckli im institutionellen Gefüge der Schweizer Politik, zwischen nationaler Gesetzgebung, Europapolitik und Regionalismus. Der Ständerat stand bislang weit weniger im Fokus politikwissenschaftlicher Forschung als der...

In Zeiten eines raschen gesellschaftlichen Wandels stellt sich die grundlegende Frage nach alternativen Repräsentationsgrundlagen für Zweite Kammern (Leunig 2009; Riescher et al. 2010; Schüttemeyer und Sturm 1992). Greift man auf die strukturellen Defizite heutiger Demokratien vor dem Hintergrund einer Vielzahl von Akteuren und Netzwerken zurück (S...

How did relevant key events shape the long-term transformation of Swiss democracy in terms of horizontal and vertical power-sharing? And why did existing systems, that is “role models”, inspire this transformation? Renowned for being one of the oldest democracies in Europe, Switzerland offers a unique, case-based research opportunity to scrutinize...

Die Ausübung verfassungsgerichtlicher Kompetenzen durch ein speziell hierfür bestimmtes Gericht ist – soweit überhaupt vorhanden – in den Schweizer Kantonen ein überwiegend junges Phänomen. So sahen vor dem Jahr 2000 nur vier Kantone eine spezialisierte Verfassungsgerichtsbarkeit vor. Schon länger bestehen dagegen Elemente einer diffusen Verfassung...

Switzerland's political system, with its developed concordance, direct democracy and federal structures, is in many respects considered both a model and a special example of a functioning democracy in the 21st century. This textbook, now in its fourth, completely updated edition, deals with the most important political institutions and actors in th...

Switzerland's political system, with its developed concordance, direct democracy and federal structures, is in many respects considered both a model and a special example of a functioning democracy in the 21st century. This textbook, now in its fourth, completely updated edition, deals with the most important political institutions and actors in th...

Switzerland's political system, with its developed concordance, direct democracy and federal structures, is in many respects considered both a model and a special example of a functioning democracy in the 21st century. This textbook, now in its fourth, completely updated edition, deals with the most important political institutions and actors in th...

Switzerland's political system, with its developed concordance, direct democracy and federal structures, is in many respects considered both a model and a special example of a functioning democracy in the 21st century. This textbook, now in its fourth, completely updated edition, deals with the most important political institutions and actors in th...

Switzerland's political system, with its developed concordance, direct democracy and federal structures, is in many respects considered both a model and a special example of a functioning democracy in the 21st century. This textbook, now in its fourth, completely updated edition, deals with the most important political institutions and actors in th...

Switzerland's political system, with its developed concordance, direct democracy and federal structures, is in many respects considered both a model and a special example of a functioning democracy in the 21st century. This textbook, now in its fourth, completely updated edition, deals with the most important political institutions and actors in th...

Switzerland's political system, with its developed concordance, direct democracy and federal structures, is in many respects considered both a model and a special example of a functioning democracy in the 21st century. This textbook, now in its fourth, completely updated edition, deals with the most important political institutions and actors in th...

Switzerland's political system, with its developed concordance, direct democracy and federal structures, is in many respects considered both a model and a special example of a functioning democracy in the 21st century. This textbook, now in its fourth, completely updated edition, deals with the most important political institutions and actors in th...

Switzerland's political system, with its developed concordance, direct democracy and federal structures, is in many respects considered both a model and a special example of a functioning democracy in the 21st century. This textbook, now in its fourth, completely updated edition, deals with the most important political institutions and actors in th...

Switzerland's political system, with its developed concordance, direct democracy and federal structures, is in many respects considered both a model and a special example of a functioning democracy in the 21st century. This textbook, now in its fourth, completely updated edition, deals with the most important political institutions and actors in th...

Switzerland's political system, with its developed concordance, direct democracy and federal structures, is in many respects considered both a model and a special example of a functioning democracy in the 21st century. This textbook, now in its fourth, completely updated edition, deals with the most important political institutions and actors in th...

Switzerland's political system, with its developed concordance, direct democracy and federal structures, is in many respects considered both a model and a special example of a functioning democracy in the 21st century. This textbook, now in its fourth, completely updated edition, deals with the most important political institutions and actors in th...

Switzerland's political system, with its developed concordance, direct democracy and federal structures, is in many respects considered both a model and a special example of a functioning democracy in the 21st century. This textbook, now in its fourth, completely updated edition, deals with the most important political institutions and actors in th...

Switzerland's political system, with its developed concordance, direct democracy and federal structures, is in many respects considered both a model and a special example of a functioning democracy in the 21st century. This textbook, now in its fourth, completely updated edition, deals with the most important political institutions and actors in th...

Switzerland's political system, with its developed concordance, direct democracy and federal structures, is in many respects considered both a model and a special example of a functioning democracy in the 21st century. This textbook, now in its fourth, completely updated edition, deals with the most important political institutions and actors in th...

Switzerland's political system, with its developed concordance, direct democracy and federal structures, is in many respects considered both a model and a special example of a functioning democracy in the 21st century. This textbook, now in its fourth, completely updated edition, deals with the most important political institutions and actors in th...

This paper builds upon the concept of “coalescent elite behaviour” which is crucial in consociational theory, but contested regarding its actual conceptualization. Contrary to Lijphart's (1968) original assumption that elites are generally committed to an “overarching cooperation”, we hypothesize that institutional venues must be taken in account....

Cambridge Core - Political Theory - Power Diffusion and Democracy - by Julian Bernauer

As with its previous editions, the 20th edition of this yearbook has been conceived as a wide-ranging compendium that provides its readers with an up-to-date overview of different aspects of federal and regional structures and politics. The 30 contributions it contains can be grouped according to the following main topics: Nine contributions (inclu...

Die Digitalisierung in Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft schreitet schnell voran, jedoch fehlte bisher vergleichendes Wissen über den Digitalisierungsgrad der Schweizer Behörden auf den verschiedenen Staatsebenen. Die Kantone mit ihren umfassenden Kompetenzen in den meisten Politikfeldern sind besonders von dieser fehlenden Vergleichbarkeit betroffen. Wi...

170 Jahre nach der Gründung des Bundesstaats stehen die Schweizer Parlamente vor grossen Fragen: Können sie ihre Kernaufgaben der Rechtssetzung, Wahl, Kontrolle und Repräsentation heute noch erfüllen? Über wie viel Macht verfügt die Volksvertretung im Verhältnis zu anderen politischen Akteuren heute noch? Ist die Legislative im Prozess politischer...

The political and economic crisis of EU integration has made it increasingly apparent how challenging it is to bring together different sovereign cultures, languages and regions into a single political system. Switzerland - being one of the three classic federations in the world - can provide insights, particularly in relation to the accommodation...

Das wirtschaftliche und politische Leben in der Schweiz geht über die Kantonsgrenzen hinaus: Aufgrund solcher Föderalismusdefizite besteht die Gefahr einer zunehmenden Zentralisierung.

In the final report on the research project Participatory waste disposal policy an on-going evalu-ation is made of the regional participatory procedure within the framework of the sectoral plan procedure for deep geological repositories. The findings of the on-going evaluation are also compared with the results obtained in the ex-post evaluation ca...

Based on a wide-ranging review of the existing literature, this article provides an original, state-of-the-art analysis of the field of direct democracy. Distinguishing between the 'input' and 'output' effects of direct democracy, the article identifies the main empirical insights and normative arguments regarding voter competence, turnout, the inf...

In this book, 30 contributions provide a comprehensive overview of theories and findings from research on political attitudes and political behaviour, subdivided into the fields of ‘political communication’, ‘political attitudes’, ‘political participation’, ‘voting behaviour’ and ‘methods’.