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Till Immigration do us Part? Public Opinion and the Dilemma between Immigration Control and Bilateral Agreements
Author(s) -
Sciarini Pascal,
Lanz Simon,
Nai Alessandro
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
swiss political science review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.632
H-Index - 30
eISSN - 1662-6370
pISSN - 1424-7755
DOI - 10.1111/spsr.12167
Subject(s) - immigration , dilemma , public opinion , political science , government (linguistics) , continuation , perception , political economy , law , sociology , psychology , politics , philosophy , linguistics , epistemology , neuroscience , computer science , programming language
As a result of the initiative against mass immigration ( MEI ) Switzerland faces a dilemma between control of immigration and the continuation of bilateral agreements. This contribution raises two questions: First, have Swiss citizens' perceptions regarding the incompatibility between immigration control and bilateral agreements evolved since the vote on the MEI in February 2014? Second, what would Swiss citizens decide if they had to choose between the implementation of the MEI and the continuation of the bilateral strategy? We ground our analysis on data from the VOX surveys regarding the MEI and the more recent vote of November 2014 (Ecopop initiative). While Swiss voters still seem to be uncertain about the issue of compatibility, they nevertheless show support for the continuation of the bilateral agreements. Our analyses highlight the importance of age, trust in government and left‐right orientation for individual opinions towards the bilateral way.