Left-right positions of political parties in Switzerland

As theoretical models of policy processes have become more ambitious, scholars have been relying more and more frequently on the policy positions of the relevant actors. Different methods are feasible in deriving these policy positions, but few have been applied to the Swiss parties. In this article, we offer estimates of policy positions for the Swiss political parties using various methods. Our main goal is to assess changes over time of these positions. On comparing the estimates obtained by the various methods, we offer insights on which estimates are preferable and in what contexts. Given the particular characteristics of the Swiss political system, namely a federal country with a non-parliamentary system of government, we also assess the degree to which the Swiss federal parties are unified.