ABSTRACT
The chapter offers a systematic analysis of voting behaviour in the nine popular referendums that have punctuated Switzerland–EU relations since 1992. The chapter argues that voting behaviour is determined by two main groups of factors: socio-economic characteristics and political attitudes. Among the former, the level of education and urban/rural location are the most important ones whereas among the latter prominent are party identification and confidence in the government. These factors find clear echo in the analyses of the 2016 Brexit vote in the UK and indicate that citizens’ attitudes to international cooperation are driven by some deep-seated factors impervious to short-term government action.
