Swiss political parties: continuity in diversity

The history of Swiss political parties is rich and complex. However, it reveals a certain continuity through which they learn to renew themselves as direct democracy, and the evolution of society it often reflects, impose new themes on their agendas.

The history of Swiss political parties is fundamentally different from that of their European, or at least continental, counterparts. Largely untouched by the two world wars, Switzerland can look back on a relatively linear political history, untouched by the institutional reorganizations that wars often impose. In Europe, Great Britain, with its long-standing parliamentary tradition and well-established party system, is certainly an exception to this rule. 

Although Switzerland was highly exposed to the ideas that had emerged in Germany and France, it also had to adapt to them.