New edition of the BiG’s publication series out now
In No. 77 of our publication series, David Witassek takes an in-depth look at how Switzerland has responded to the threat of terrorist groups and attacks in the past.
To this day, many people in Switzerland insist that terrorism and political violence have never existed here, and that our political system prevents such extreme positions from taking root. Yet during the political conflicts between 1969 and 1981, Switzerland was in fact affected by a considerable number of politically motivated acts of violence. The following document takes an in-depth look at terrorist groups’ motivations, and how the Swiss government has addressed this supposedly new threat.
Using sources from the Swiss Federal Archives, in particular ones from the Federal Police and the Office of the Attorney General, the author takes a new point of view in his look at extremism in Switzerland, and shows how definitions have changed over time, and how our interpretations of what terrorism is have evolved.
This issue of the BiG's publication series can be downloaded free of charge from our library catalogue.