The Swiss Upper House
``Chambre de réflexion'' or Conservative Renegades?1

Sarah Bütikofer2 and Simon Hug3
CIS and IPZ, Universität Zürich
Département de science politique, Université de Genève
 

First version: March 2005, this version: May 14, 2008

Abstract

Theoretical analyses suggest that bicameral systems have policy consequences if the preferences of the two chambers differ. In this paper I offer an analysis of the ideological positions of the MPs in the two chambers of the Swiss parliament. Contrary to conventional wisdom the analyses relying on MP surveys and roll call analyses suggest that the MPs of the same party hardly differ with respect to their ideological positions. While the MP survey suggests that the Swiss upper house is more conservative given the underrepresentation of leftist parties in the latter chamber, similar differences fail to appear in the roll call analyses in a systematic way. Hence, the Swiss upper house is hardly a conservative bastion.

Footnotes:

1  Thanks are due to the Swiss Parliamentsdienste and especially Ernst Firschknecht and Andreas Sidler, who provided the main bulk of the empirical data used here and helped us using it. Franziska Spörri provided gratefully appreciated research assistance and the Swiss National Science Foundation (Grant No 100012-111909) generous funding.

2  Institut für Politikwissenschaft; Universität Zürich; Hirschengraben 56; 8001 Zürich; Switzerland; email: sarahb@ipz.uzh.ch

3  Département de science politique, Faculté des sciences économiques et sociales; Université de Genève; 40 Bd du Pont d'Arve; 1211 Genève 4; Switzerland; phone ++41 22 379 83 78; email: simon.hug@politic.unige.ch



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On 14 May 2008, 07:49.