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Essence of indecision - explaining Veto Player structures and Agenda Setting processes in Swiss Foreign Policy

Blanc, Isabelle LU (2013) STVM21 20131
Department of Political Science
Abstract (Swedish)
The Swiss foreign policy offers a deviant case. Most countries that were neutral
during the Cold War have during the last decades become more cooperative, while
Switzerland on the other hand still contains a rather stable foreign policy. Because
traditional theories in International Politics offer no concrete explanation to this
puzzle, I have been oriented towards decision-making theories in domestic
politics. The research questions were explored through two case studies. The first
case study analysing the veto player structures in the Swiss security reports 1973-
2010 with help of Tsebelis Veto Player Theory (1995). Finding that not all
institutional veto players favoured the proposed changes in the security reports.
The consent... (More)
The Swiss foreign policy offers a deviant case. Most countries that were neutral
during the Cold War have during the last decades become more cooperative, while
Switzerland on the other hand still contains a rather stable foreign policy. Because
traditional theories in International Politics offer no concrete explanation to this
puzzle, I have been oriented towards decision-making theories in domestic
politics. The research questions were explored through two case studies. The first
case study analysing the veto player structures in the Swiss security reports 1973-
2010 with help of Tsebelis Veto Player Theory (1995). Finding that not all
institutional veto players favoured the proposed changes in the security reports.
The consent of all three veto players is however necessary in order to change a
policy, leading therefore to no change. The second case study examines the
agenda-setting process in the UN membership proposal in 1986 with help of
Kingdon´s Multiple Stream Framework (1995). Finding that the prominent actors
in the governmental agenda and the decision agenda differed, explaining therefore
why the UN membership was rejected. In both case studies the people through the
referendum’s where identified as the most sufficient factor influencing the
decision-making process in the Swiss foreign policy. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Blanc, Isabelle LU
supervisor
organization
course
STVM21 20131
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Switzerland, Foreign Policy, Policymaking, Veto Player, Agenda setting
language
English
id
3798703
date added to LUP
2013-07-01 13:06:36
date last changed
2013-07-01 13:06:36
@misc{3798703,
  abstract     = {{The Swiss foreign policy offers a deviant case. Most countries that were neutral
during the Cold War have during the last decades become more cooperative, while
Switzerland on the other hand still contains a rather stable foreign policy. Because
traditional theories in International Politics offer no concrete explanation to this
puzzle, I have been oriented towards decision-making theories in domestic
politics. The research questions were explored through two case studies. The first
case study analysing the veto player structures in the Swiss security reports 1973-
2010 with help of Tsebelis Veto Player Theory (1995). Finding that not all
institutional veto players favoured the proposed changes in the security reports.
The consent of all three veto players is however necessary in order to change a
policy, leading therefore to no change. The second case study examines the
agenda-setting process in the UN membership proposal in 1986 with help of
Kingdon´s Multiple Stream Framework (1995). Finding that the prominent actors
in the governmental agenda and the decision agenda differed, explaining therefore
why the UN membership was rejected. In both case studies the people through the
referendum’s where identified as the most sufficient factor influencing the
decision-making process in the Swiss foreign policy.}},
  author       = {{Blanc, Isabelle}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Essence of indecision - explaining Veto Player structures and Agenda Setting processes in Swiss Foreign Policy}},
  year         = {{2013}},
}