Who represents security concerns in the Federal Parliament?
On behalf of Allianz Sicherheit, the gfs.bern research institute conducted an analysis of parliamentarians. Of primary interest was how well the individual parliamentarians represent security interests.
Security is a concept that is difficult to grasp, as it is defined differently by different people. It is therefore important to clearly delineate the focus of this analysis. This delineation is important because a political assessment of security involves very diametrically opposed value concepts. Depending on the political values, security can, for example, be assessed from a pacifist, military, cooperative or ecological perspective, which implies very different definitions of security.
In the context of the present study, security is viewed from a liberal bourgeois point of view. This is in contrast, for example, to a right-wing conservative concept of security, which represents other values in connection with multilateral security cooperation. In addition, we limit ourselves to security aspects that are related to an increased potential threat and thus exclude certain elements of internal security such as police work in the everyday criminal sphere (e.g. juvenile delinquency).
The commitment to security interests of parliamentarians was examined on two levels: Vested interests and voting behaviour in parliamentary business. The investigated parliamentarians’ vested interests are based on the official registers of the National Council and the Council of States, the membership lists of the parliamentary groups and the self-reported further commitments in relevant political offices. For the evaluation of parliamentary business, it was determined which business increases security and which business is to the detriment of greater security.
You can find the full report here (in German).
