The Swiss People Party: Between the leader and the organisation.

This paper will focus the case of the Swiss People Party (SVP), which has been the most electorally successful Western European populist party over the past two decades. The party has participated in the Swiss government since the 1920s and, despite its radicalisation in the 1990s, has continued to be involved in the federal and cantonal government coalitions. Its populist turn has been promoted by a new leadership led by a multimillionaire “charismatic” leader, Christoph Blocher, whose direction of the party and image are also key factors in explaining the party’s success. At the same time, the SVP is also a very complex organisation with multiple subnational (cantonal and communal) branches in which autonomy is particularly important. This paper will try to show the limits of an exclusive focus on the party leader – especially the individual leader - and will discuss and detail how and why the party organisation matters.