Papers by Simon Geissbühler
L'A. etudie l'adhesion des catholiques suisses aux differents partis politiques (FDP, SPS... more L'A. etudie l'adhesion des catholiques suisses aux differents partis politiques (FDP, SPS et SVP) en montrant les changements survenus dans ces orientations depuis 1970 et les liens entre ces adhesions et l'identite religieuse.
Przegląd Politologiczny, 2014
Discussions about direct democracy and its advantages and risks are often superficial, invoke ste... more Discussions about direct democracy and its advantages and risks are often superficial, invoke stereotypes and ignore empirical data. This article tests seven common criticisms of direct democracy by referring to the Swiss experience. Evidently, Swiss democracy is not a copy/paste model, but has developed in a specific historical and institutional setting. It is obvious that both conservative as well as left-wing critics overemphasize their case against direct democracy by (wilfully) neglecting the evidence. Direct democracy does not lead to anarchy. The common people can make reasonable decisions.
Minorities are not more discriminated against in direct democratic systems than in representative ones. Money plays a role in direct democracy, as it does in representative systems. Direct democracy slows down reforms, but it also makes them steadier and more sustainable. Direct democracy brings contentment to its citizens. Finally, direct democracy is not ideologically predisposed. It is a mechanism to revert
policies back to the median voter.
Holocaust and Genocide Studies, 2014
The mass murder of Jews by the local population during Operation Barbarossa was as common in Nort... more The mass murder of Jews by the local population during Operation Barbarossa was as common in Northern Bukovina and Bessarabia as in eastern Poland, Lithuania, or Galicia. Residents in many localities in these areas seized the “window of opportunity” between the flight of the Soviet administration and the arrival of Romanian or German forces to murder Jews on their own initiative. Plundering was a key component of the pogroms that took place everywhere. The following illustrates the need for further consideration of the chronology and contexts of pogroms at the beginning of the war in the East.
Holocaust and Modernity (Kiev), 2014
The massacres in the first few days of the Romanian-German invasion on the southern front on 2 Ju... more The massacres in the first few days of the Romanian-German invasion on the southern front on 2 July 1941 are an important, but still much under-researched element of the Holocaust. This article presents 13 theses on the first phase of the Holocaust in Romanian-controlled territories in summer 1941. With regard to the events, this article underlines the importance of the massacre in Iaşi at the end of June 1941 as the starting point of the Holocaust in Romania and estimates that at least 43,500 Jews were killed in July/August 1941 in Northern Bukovina and in Bessarabia. As for the context, I contend that the mass murder of Jews in the first few days of the war in Romanian-occupied territories was a continuation of the anti-Jewish policies of persecution – but now in the radicalized context of the war of destruction. The mass murder of Jews was neither a “derivative” of the war nor a “collateral damage”, but an integral part and predefined goal of the Eastern Campaign. However, this mass murder was often improvised and steered rom below; it was not “modern”, but bloody handiwork. What happened in Northern Bukovina and in Bessarabia also highlights once more that the Holocaust cannot be “reduced” to Auschwitz: approximately half of all Jewish victims were not gassed, but shot, tortured or beaten to death (mostly in the East). With regard to the victims, perpetrators, collaborators, and bystanders, the sources show that the Jews were astounded by the massive outbreak of violence. Particularly incomprehensible for most Jews was the fact that many perpetrators and collaborators were their neighbors. Local pogroms and local collaboration were indeed widespread in Northern Bukovina and in Bessarabia. The mass murder of Jews in Romanian-controlled territories was no secret; many knew what was happening. The motives of the perpetrators were complex. It is obvious, however, that ideological and political as well as economic motives were intertwined and are crucial to explain violence against defenseless Jews. As for memory and remembrance, there are hardly any physical traces of the former Jewish presence and of the Holocaust in today’s Northern Bukovina (Ukraine) and Bessarabia (Moldova). To find one of the very few remaining synagogues, a neglected cemetery, or a mass grave, one has to search assiduously. The former Jewish presence has been largely “erased”. But the mental traces of the former Jewish presence and of the Holocaust are also evaporating. For many in Romania (and elsewhere in Eastern Europe), the Holocaust remains to this day a taboo or an invention. Many in Romania continue to minimize Romanian crimes during the Second World War and Romania’s responsibility for the Holocaust in Northern Bukovina, Bessarabia and Transnistria.
Nach der Revolution „auf dem Granit“ von 1990 und der Orangenen Revolution von 2004 hat von Novem... more Nach der Revolution „auf dem Granit“ von 1990 und der Orangenen Revolution von 2004 hat von November 2013 bis Februar 2014 ein weiterer ukrainischer Volksaufstand, der Euromaidan, das Janukowitsch-Regime weggespült. Die vielschichtigen Probleme der Ukraine sind damit allerdings nicht gelöst. Der revolutionären Euphorie folgte bereits in den ersten Wochen nach der Regierungsneubildung tiefe Ernüchterung. Die russische Annexion der Schwarzmeerhalbinsel Krim im März 2014 hat der dritten postsowjetischen ukrainischen Revolution eine gänzlich neue Dimension verliehen und wird eine erfolgreichen Transition des Landes noch komplizierter machen. Der Weg in Richtung Demokratie und Marktwirtschaft dürfte für die Ukraine lang und hart werden.
In dem vorliegenden Band analysieren renommierte Politikwissenschaftler und Publizisten – Ariel Cohen, Ivan Benovic, Paul Flückiger, Gerhard Gnauck, Rudolf Hermann, Wojciech Konończuk, Taras Kuzio, Ludmila Lutz-Auras, Jakob Mischke, Mykola Rjabtschuk sowie Lilia Shevtsova – die ukrainische Revolution 3.0. Dabei liegt der Fokus unter anderem auf der Entstehung des Euromaidans und dem Verlauf der Revolution, auf geopolitischen und geostrategischen Überlegungen sowie den mittel- und langfristigen politischen, gesellschaftlichen und ökonomischen Perspektiven der Ukraine.
Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs VIII : 2 (2014), 2014
http://www.israelcfr.com/documents/8-2/simon-geissbuhler.pdf
Asien Afrika Latinamerika, 2002
With the end of the 70 years long regime of the state party PRI and the start of the administrati... more With the end of the 70 years long regime of the state party PRI and the start of the administration of president Vicente Fox in December 2000, a profound change in Mexican social policies in general and in the poverty reduction discourse and strategies in particular announced itself. In the context of Mexico's economic and political transformation, however, the government was forced to work on multiple policy areas at the same time. As a result, strategic mistakes were made on the one hand, on the other hand, marginal policy sectors, and poverty reduction was doubtlessly one of them, were neglected because resources and organizational and planning capacities were totally absorbed by key tasks. Furthermore, political institutions and policies are path-dependent and change only incrementally. In regard to the poverty reduction discourse and strategies there is unquestionably a great deal of continuity even in the first phase of the Fox era.
Holocaust Studies: A Journal of Culture and History, 2013
While several studies of the sexual violence perpetrated by the Wehrmacht in the East have been p... more While several studies of the sexual violence perpetrated by the Wehrmacht in the East have been published in recent years, the violent sexual behaviour of Romanian troops during the Second World War has not yet been systematically examined. This essay outlines a research agenda and several theses on the topic and presents some preliminary findings. The sources analysed, mainly survivors’ testimonies, suggest that the rape of Jewish women and girls by Romanian soldiers was widespread and more common than rape by Wehrmacht soldiers. The notion that the rape of a Jewish victim constituted Rassenschande did not exist among Romanian soldiers. It is assumed that the lenient, at times even encouraging stance of the Romanian military leadership - or at least of many officers in the field - regarding the rape of Jewish women and girls led to more instances of such violent crimes. The Romanian troops’ plundering raids and their less rigorous chains of command provided the framework for the abuse of the Jewish civilian population in general and for rape in particular.
West European Politics , 1999
This article is concerned with the political attitudes and the party attachments of Swiss Catholi... more This article is concerned with the political attitudes and the party attachments of Swiss Catholics between 1970 and 1995. Do Catholics still have distinct political orientations or have the differences between Catholics and non‐Catholics withered away in the process of secularisation? A re‐analysis of several surveys indicates that Catholics are indeed still different politically from the overall Swiss population. But these differences between Catholics and non‐Catholics are relatively small and have almost disappeared in the last 30 years. However, the data also suggests that while the confessional cleavage has lost most of its significance, it is increasingly superseded by a religious one.
Schweizerische Zeitschrift für Geschichte 51(4): 535- 541., 2001
Schweizerische Zeitschrift für Politikwissenschaft 8(1): 79-92, 2002
Journal for the Study of Religions and Ideologies 2: 114-122, 2002
SportZeiten. Sport in Geschichte, Kultur und Gesellschaft 5(1): 47-58., 2005
Warum soll das Leben der Obermafiosi, Popstars, Sportler und Neureichen, die die Ukrainer so sehr... more Warum soll das Leben der Obermafiosi, Popstars, Sportler und Neureichen, die die Ukrainer so sehr bewundern, interessanter sein als das einer einfachen ukrainischen Frau? Einfühlsam erzählt der Schweizer Diplomat und Politologe Simon Geissbühler die Lebensgeschichte der 1924 geborenen Bäuerin Anna, der Grossmutter seiner Frau. Die Spurensuche führt in ein winziges Dorf im Südwesten der Ukraine. Sie führt zurück zur schrecklichen Hungersnot 1932/33, zum 2. Weltkrieg, zum Stalinismus und zur Orangenen Revolution 2004. Geschickt werden die Erinnerungen von Babuschka Anna und der Alltag im Dorf mit der bewegten Geschichte der Ukraine im 20. Jahrhundert verwoben. So entsteht ein dichtes Bild eines berührenden menschlichen Schicksals in der dörflichen Welt der Ukraine, eines einfachen Lebens voller Aufopferung und Verzicht und weniger Augenblicke der Hoffnung und des späten Glücks.
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Papers by Simon Geissbühler
Minorities are not more discriminated against in direct democratic systems than in representative ones. Money plays a role in direct democracy, as it does in representative systems. Direct democracy slows down reforms, but it also makes them steadier and more sustainable. Direct democracy brings contentment to its citizens. Finally, direct democracy is not ideologically predisposed. It is a mechanism to revert
policies back to the median voter.
In dem vorliegenden Band analysieren renommierte Politikwissenschaftler und Publizisten – Ariel Cohen, Ivan Benovic, Paul Flückiger, Gerhard Gnauck, Rudolf Hermann, Wojciech Konończuk, Taras Kuzio, Ludmila Lutz-Auras, Jakob Mischke, Mykola Rjabtschuk sowie Lilia Shevtsova – die ukrainische Revolution 3.0. Dabei liegt der Fokus unter anderem auf der Entstehung des Euromaidans und dem Verlauf der Revolution, auf geopolitischen und geostrategischen Überlegungen sowie den mittel- und langfristigen politischen, gesellschaftlichen und ökonomischen Perspektiven der Ukraine.
Minorities are not more discriminated against in direct democratic systems than in representative ones. Money plays a role in direct democracy, as it does in representative systems. Direct democracy slows down reforms, but it also makes them steadier and more sustainable. Direct democracy brings contentment to its citizens. Finally, direct democracy is not ideologically predisposed. It is a mechanism to revert
policies back to the median voter.
In dem vorliegenden Band analysieren renommierte Politikwissenschaftler und Publizisten – Ariel Cohen, Ivan Benovic, Paul Flückiger, Gerhard Gnauck, Rudolf Hermann, Wojciech Konończuk, Taras Kuzio, Ludmila Lutz-Auras, Jakob Mischke, Mykola Rjabtschuk sowie Lilia Shevtsova – die ukrainische Revolution 3.0. Dabei liegt der Fokus unter anderem auf der Entstehung des Euromaidans und dem Verlauf der Revolution, auf geopolitischen und geostrategischen Überlegungen sowie den mittel- und langfristigen politischen, gesellschaftlichen und ökonomischen Perspektiven der Ukraine.
«Ernst, geboren 1868, Farmer, Buenos Aires.» Dieser mysteriöse Eintrag im Stammbaum der Familie Geissbühler löst eine abenteuerliche Suche vom Emmental in die argentinische Pampa aus. Wer war dieser Auswanderer? Warum verliess er 1889 das heimische Studen im Seeland? Wurde er wegen seiner Behinderung stigmatisiert? Wollte er in Argentinien ein neues Leben aufbauen? Wie erging es ihm in Südamerika? Das Buch dokumentiert diese Spurensuche. Tagebuchartige Einträge formulieren Gedanken und Erlebnisse dieser Entdeckungsreise. Dazwischen eingestreut sind objektive Fakten, auf Recherche in Quellen und Literatur abgestützte Aussagen. Das Buch ist ein Beitrag an die Geschichte der Schweizer Überseeauswanderung. Vor allem aber ist sie eine berührende Familiengeschichte mit einem unerwarteten Ausgang.