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Der Beitrag zur politischen Kommunikation in der Schweiz geht der Frage nach, inwiefern eine Europäisierung der Öffentlichkeit auch für ein Nicht-EU-Mitgliedsland wie die Schweiz aus normativer und insbesondere empirischer Sicht relevant ist. So wird in einem ersten Schritt in einer theoretischen Diskussion ausgeführt, weshalb europäische Öffentlichkeit auch Staaten jenseits der EU-Grenzen umfassen kann und soll. Anschließend wird die Konzeptionalisierung europäischer Öffentlichkeit in die aktuelle Forschung eingebettet und skizziert, mit welchen Methoden und Daten der political claim analysis die Europäisierung der Schweizer Öffentlichkeit empirisch erfasst werden kann. Europäische Öffentlichkeit wird dabei als relatives Konzept definiert, welches auf kommunikativen Verflechtungen unterschiedlicher geopolitischer Räume basiert und innerhalb dessen drei Formen europäischer Kommunikation unterschieden werden: (1) supranationale, (2) vertikale und (3) horizontale Europäisierung. Die weitere empirische Analyse der öffentlichen Debatte, die auf vier schweizerischen Tageszeitungen für die Jahre 1990, 19995, 2000 und 2002 beruht und sieben Politikfelder berücksichtigt, lässt zwei wesentliche Schlüsse zu: Erstens ist die Schweizer Öffentlichkeit von einem relativ hohen - und mit den EU-Ländern der Studie vergleichbaren - Niveau an Europäisierung gekennzeichnet, obgleich die Schweiz nicht Mitglied der EU ist. Zweitens ist - trotz gewisser Varianz zwischen den Politikfeldern - ein klarer Trend in Richtung einer Renationalisierung des claims-making über die Jahre ersichtlich. Dieser im europäischen Vergleich einzigartige Trend ist durch einige wichtige nationale Abstimmungen in verschiedenen Politikbereichen sowie durch den außerordentlichen Erfolg der Schweizerischen Volkspartei (SVP) zu erklären. (ICG2)

The purpose of this article is to analyse the conditions under which referendum campaigns have an impact on voting choices. Based on a model of opinion formation that integrates both campaign effects and partisan effects, we argue that campaign effects vary according to the context of the popular vote (size and type of conflict among the party elite and intensity and direction of the referendum campaign). We test our hypotheses with two-step estimations for hierarchical models on data covering 25 popular votes on foreign, European and immigration policy in Switzerland. Our results show strong campaign effects and they suggest that their strength and nature are indeed highly conditional on the context of the vote: the type of party coalition pre-structures the patterns of individual voting choices, campaign effects are higher when the campaign is highly intense and they are more symmetric when it is balanced.

AbstractThis Special Issue brings together a large variety of contributions dealing with the influence of issues and issue competition, the structure of attitudes towards immigration and international cooperation and a series of non‐policy factors such as campaign consultants and the rise of female representation in Switzerland. In this introduction we place the contributions in the broader framework of current debates in the international literature and stress the substantial and methodological innovations of the articles. Last, we offer some more general thoughts on almost 30 years of Swiss electoral research taking stock of the historical development.

AbstractTo what extent are negative election campaigns "tailored" to the personality of the candidates? And with what electoral consequences? In this article we tackle these questions by focusing on the 2019 Swiss federal election. We estimate the presence of negativity as a function of the personality profile of competing candidates (Big Five) and the presence of professional consultants. Analyses based on data from a candidate survey (Selects 2019) suggest that campaign consultants are likely to take stock of the character of their candidate, and tailor the content of their campaigns accordingly ‐ more aggressive for more energetic candidates (higher plasticity) and for less stable candidates (lower stability). These results, we argue, support our central claim that the role of consultants is to provide the most adequate campaign for the candidate they are promoting ("tailoring hypothesis"). We fail however to find any convincing evidence that such tailoring is electorally successful.

AbstractA growing body of studies shows that the reasons for competing candidates to "go negative" on their opponents during elections—that is, attacking their opponents instead of promoting their own programs or ideas stem from strategic considerations. Yet, existing research has, at this stage, failed to assess whether candidates' personality traits also play a role. In this article, we bridge the gap between existing work in political psychology and political communication and study to what extent the personality traits of competing candidates are linked with their use of negative campaigning strategies. We rely on candidate survey data for recent elections in three countries—Germany (2017), Switzerland (2019), and Finland (2019). The data includes self-reported measures for candidates' "Big Five" personality traits (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, openness) and the the use of attacks towards their opponents during the campaign. Controlling for the usual suspects driving the use of negative campaigning we show that this latter is associated with low agreeableness and (marginally) with high extraversion and low conscientiousness. The role of personality for the focus of an attack (issue vs. character attacks) is somewhat less clear-cut. All in all, kinder and more stable candidates tend to go less negative; when they do, they tend to stay away from character-based attacks and somehow focus on issues.

To what extent are negative election campaigns "tailored" to the personality of the candidates? And with what electoral consequences? In this article we tackle these questions by focusing on the 2019 Swiss federal election. We estimate the presence of negativity as a function of the personality profile of competing candidates (Big Five) and the presence of professional consultants. Analyses based on data from a candidate survey (Selects 2019) suggest that campaign consultants are likely to take stock of the character of their candidate, and tailor the content of their campaigns accordingly - more aggressive for more energetic candidates (higher plasticity) and for less stable candidates (lower stability). These results, we argue, support our central claim that the role of consultants is to provide the most adequate campaign for the candidate they are promoting ("tailoring hypothesis"). We fail however to find any convincing evidence that such tailoring is electorally successful.

Abstract
This paper analyzes the mutual influence between media and political agendas in the Netherlands and Switzerland. While these two countries share a number of similarities, they also exhibit some important differences (e.g. the frequency of parliamentary meetings) that are likely to affect the patterns of influence. Time-series cross-section analyses of monthly data about issue attention in parliamentary questions and in media coverage for the period 1995–2003 (Switzerland) and 1995–2011 (Netherlands) provide partial support for our hypotheses. Agenda-setting and -building effects are overall stronger in Switzerland, which may be due to differences in the workings of national parliaments and varying degrees of mediatization. Moreover, our analyses reveal more pronounced differences between the coalition and opposition parties in Switzerland. Overall, this study demonstrates that it is important to consider smaller institutional differences when studying political agenda-setting and -building in a cross-national perspective.

This paper analyzes the mutual influence between media and political agendas in the Netherlands and Switzerland. While these two countries share a number of similarities, they also exhibit some important differences (e.g. the frequency of parliamentary meetings) that are likely to affect the patterns of influence. Time-series cross-section analyses of monthly data about issue attention in parliamentary questions and in media coverage for the period 1995–2003 (Switzerland) and 1995–2011 (Netherlands) provide partial support for our hypotheses. Agenda-setting and -building effects are overall stronger in Switzerland, which may be due to differences in the workings of national parliaments and varying degrees of mediatization. Moreover, our analyses reveal more pronounced differences between the coalition and opposition parties in Switzerland. Overall, this study demonstrates that it is important to consider smaller institutional differences when studying political agenda-setting and -building in a cross-national perspective.

AbstractThis special issue brings together a large variety of contributions dealing with party choice, political attitudes and the dynamics of electoral campaigns in Switzerland. The introduction places the contributions in the broader framework of current debates in the international literature and highlights substantial and methodological innovations. The articles in this volume address central issues of the literature dealing with the two‐dimensional structure of political competition, take up key questions of the dynamics of election campaigns, and finally echo a large interest for the topic of populism, not only on the side of the parties but also on the side of the voters. The introduction also underlines the new and innovative ways in which the articles link the different datasets together in order to address substantial questions on the complexity of the environment in which voters form their choice and political parties operate during an election campaign.

This special issue brings together a large variety of contributions dealing with party choice, political attitudes and the dynamics of electoral campaigns in Switzerland. The introduction places the contributions in the broader framework of current debates in the international literature and highlights substantial and methodological innovations of the articles. The articles in this volume address central issues of the literature dealing with the two-dimensional structure of political competition, take up key questions of the dynamics of election campaigns, and finally echo a large interest for the topic of populism, not only on the side of the parties but also on the side of the voters. The introduction also underlines the new and innovative ways in which the articles link the different datasets together in order to address substantial questions on the complexity of the environment in which voters form their choice and political parties operate during an election campaign.

This special issue brings together a large variety of contributions dealing with partychoice, political attitudes and the dynamics of electoral campaigns in Switzerland. Theintroduction places the contributions in the broader framework of current debates in theinternational literature and highlights substantial and methodological innovations. The articles inthis volume address central issues of the literature dealing with the two-dimensional structure ofpolitical competition, take up key questions of the dynamics of election campaigns, and finallyecho a large interest for the topic of populism, not only on the side of the parties but also on theside of the voters. The introduction also underlines the new and innovative ways in which thearticles link the different datasets together in order to address substantial questions on thecomplexity of the environment in which voters form their choice and political parties operateduring an election campaign.

Issue ownership theory expects political parties to focus their campaigns on 'owned' issues for which they have a reputation of competence and a history of attention, and to avoid issues that play to the advantage of their opponents. However, recent empirical studies show that parties often campaign on the same issues. The literature has suggested several factors to account for this behavior, but has mostly neglected that issue emphasis strategies can vary across campaign communication channels and parties. Based on a quantitative content analysis of the manifestos and press releases of all seven parties competing in the 2009 regional elections in Flanders (Belgium), we make two contributions. First, we show that while there is some consistency in parties' issue priorities, they do not necessarily set the same issue priorities in their different campaign communication channels. Second, it appears that parties follow different strategies depending on their standing in the polls, and, to a lesser degree, according to their position in government or in opposition.