Kris William Kobach, The Referendum: Direct Democracy in Switzerland, 1993.

Acknowledgements

This project would not have been possible without the generous assistance of many people. Foremost among them were my academic advisors in this endeavor, Vernon Bogdanor of Brasenose College, Oxford, and Peter Pulzer of All Souls College, Oxford. Both invested considerable time and effort reviewing drafts and offering suggestions. Their keen insight into the subject matter proved invaluable. I am also grateful to David Butler of Nuffield College, Oxford, and Gordon Smith of the London School of Economics for their thoughtful comments.

Most of the research for this project was conducted in Switzerland. I am deeply indebted to those people who pointed me in the right direction in my search for useful information. I am particularly grateful to Monika Spinatsch, Hans Hirter, Claude Longchamp, and the rest of the staff at the Research Center for Swiss Politics at the University of Bern. The data which they made available to me was critical for developing various sections of this study, and their newspaper archives yielded a wealth of relevant information. I would also like to thank the numerous politicians, officials, interest group representatives, and academics who agreed to let me interview them. Their firsthand impressions were absolutely essential to this project. I must also thank those who offered their kind hospitality in Switzerland, especially Monika Spinatsch and Chris and Kim Weber.

I am extremely grateful to the Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission for providing the funding that made the first three years of this research possible. The fourth year of research was funded by Brasenose College and by the Blackwell Group of Oxford. I am also indebted to Julia Jenkinson for her patience and support. Many others not mentioned here also helped along the way. To all I offer my sincere gratitude.