Rejection of Switzerland's proposed entry into the European Economic Area (EEA) in a 6 December 1992 plebiscite awakened officials and politicians to the need to inform voters better on the way Swiss foreign policy functions both at home and abroad. The launch of the National Research Program "Foundation and Possibilities of Swiss Foreign Policy" (NRP 42) made foreign policy as a whole the subject of such a program for the first time. During the course of five years, a total of 58 research projects were carried out. These originated from the disciplines of history, news media studies, and political science as well as sociology, law, and economics. The following priorities were set:
- Study of how global change influences Switzerland's foreign policy
- Consideration of domestic policy factors that affect the decision-making process in foreign policy
- Analysis of conflicting goals affecting the coherence and effectiveness of Swiss foreign policy
Framework budget: CHF 16'000'000
President of experts: Jean-Claude Favez/Jürg Martin Gabriel
Direction of programme: Laurent Goetschel, Magdalena Bernath
End of research: 2000
Publication:
Goetschel Laurent, Bernath Magdalena, Schwarz Daniel, Schweizerische Aussenpolitik: Grundlagen und Möglichkeiten, Zürich: NZZ, 2002