Die Stimmen des Volkes

This book provides an in-depth overview of the development of cantonal right-wing parties in Switzerland in terms of their populist approaches. It focuses on the parties’ political style by applying a newly developed index on right-wing populism. This measurement tool is a strong argument for a gradual understanding of populism. It shows that, especially in a Swiss context, political parties differ from canton to canton and era to era. Additionally, the political style a party adopts on a national level does not necessarily have to be the same as that which it adopts on a cantonal level. Moreover, the index values show that they are a more valid tool for measuring populism than the share of votes itself.