Michael Andrea Strebel
Biographic Data
| ID | 298934 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Michael Andrea Strebel |
| GIVEN NAMES | Michael Andrea |
| FAMILY NAME | Strebel |
| SIGNATURE | STREBEL M A |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Lausanne |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-8983-8867 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 16 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 122 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 16 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2018 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
The residential patterns of Swiss urban elites: Continuity and change across elite categories (1890–2000)
Numerous studies have focused on wealth elites’ housing, including their spatial and social exclusiveness. The insertion of the power elite in urban space has, however, largely been left unexplored. By combining positional and residential information on over 7,400 urban elites, we study how academic, economic, and political elites’ residential patterns have evolved from 1890 to 2000 in the three largest Swiss cities (Basel, Geneva, Zurich). First…
The Front and the Back Stage of Power: Formal and Informal Social Capital among Business Elites in the Three Largest Swiss Cities, 1890-2000
In the resurgence of elite sociology, formal (organizational-based network resources) and informal (non-organizational relations) social capital have garnered attention, but their mutual dynamics remain underexplored. This study addresses this gap, examining how both forms intersect among urban business elites, focusing on their roles on corporate boards, perceived as a front stage of power, and their places of residence, representing a back stag…
The Swiss Patrician Families between Decline and Persistence: Power Positions and Kinship Ties (1890–1957)
Scholarship demonstrated the major role of inheritance and kinship for elite’s power reproduction, particularly among noble families. In the absence of monarchic and court structures, ruling classes that enjoyed privileges and engaged in social closure could become the functional equivalent of a nobility. In this paper, we examine the evolution of the power of Swiss patrician families in the three major Swiss cities (Basel, Geneva, and Zurich) si…
Populism and the scales of statehood. Localism and populist attitudes in Western Europe
The rise of populism in Western Europe is often portrayed as a reaction to globalisation and supra-national integration processes. However, the domestic-international divide is only one aspect of the scalar organisation of government. In this article, we explore the relationship between populist attitudes and orientations towards state scales more generally. Drawing on a representative survey of 4033 citizens in Britain, France, Germany and Switz…
Élites et pouvoir dans les grandes villes suisses (1890-2020)
Qui règne sur les grandes villes suisses ? Les partis de gauche, les dirigeant ·e·s des principales banques, ou plutôt les anciennes familles patriciennes ? Cet ouvrage aborde ces questions dans une perspective longue en offrant de nouvelles et stimulantes perspectives sur l'histoire des élites. En ouvrant la voie à une histoire transnationale des élites locales, il explore aussi les ramifications de ces élites à diverses échelles spatiales. En r…
When do subnational jurisdictional mergers impact voting
Despite numerous territorial reforms of municipalities and regions across Europe, the impact of jurisdictional mergers on voting, i.e., citizens' party vote choice and parties' vote shares, has received scant attention in the literature. In this article, we explore the conditions under which jurisdictional reforms impact voting. We argue that citizens base their vote choice on their merger position when they find the merger issue important and th…
A policy-centred approach to inter-municipal cooperation
This paper demonstrates how policy-specific characteristics affect inter-municipal cooperation. We investigate if a municipality’s cooperation activity in a policy area hinges on whether the policy is considered relevant or politicized by local officials. Using data from two surveys of Swiss local administrators and officials conducted in 2017 that include detailed questions on public service provision, we find that the perceived relevance of a p…
The political economy of territorial integration referendums
When do political communities support territorial amalgamation in referendums? Existing research has identified heterogeneity between communities as a key hurdle for integration reforms. In this paper, I demonstrate that asymmetries between communities do not necessarily impede political integration. An analysis of 1500 municipal merger referendums held in Swiss municipalities since the new millennium shows that voters’ support for integration is…
The Urban Left in Power: Comparing the Profiles of ‘Municipal Socialists’ and the ‘New Urban Left’ in Swiss Cities
Today, many cities in post‐industrial societies are strongholds of left and progressive political forces. Almost 100 years ago, left parties had instituted municipal socialism in several European cities. In this article, we compare these two periods of left urban rule by focusing on the long‐term changes over the last 120 years in the socio‐demographic profile of urban left elites in four major Swiss cities. Our analysis of left elected represent…
From local champions to global players: A long-term perspective on Swiss companies' connections across territorial scales
Corporate interlocking at the national and transnational scale has received substantive scholarly attention. Less is known about companies' ties to the cities and regions in which they have their seats. In this paper, we conduct a long-term analysis of the multilevel ties that companies maintain with the local and the national context they are embedded in. To do so, we adopt a positional approach and identify the directors of the major companies …
Participatory processes and their outcomes: Comparing Assembly and Popular Vote Decisions
How do face-to-face, assembly processes, and non-face-to-face, popular vote processes impact the decisions made by citizens? Normative discussions of the comparative merits of these two broad types of participatory decision-making processes partly rely on empirical assumptions concerning this question. In this paper, we test the central assumption that assemblies lead to decisions that are more widely supported by participants than popular votes.…
Citizens’ attitudes towards local autonomy and inter-local cooperation: Evidence from Western Europe
Recent decades have seen a strengthening of local autonomy in many European states. At the same time, local governance capacities were strengthened through intermunicipal structures and territorial consolidation to prepare local authorities for additional tasks. In this paper, we assess what citizens think about strengthening local autonomy and strengthening inter-local cooperation. We argue that citizens’ attitudes towards local autonomy and int…
Who supports metropolitan integration? Citizens’ perceptions of city-regional governance in Western Europe
The appropriate scale of metropolitan governance has been the subject of long-running debates. These debates between institutional fragmentation and integration proponents have revolved around the efficiency and effectiveness of metropolitan governance structures. However, the democratic acceptability of such reforms – whether and which citizens support or oppose metropolitan integration – has been largely ignored. This article makes two contribu…
The importance of input and output legitimacy in democratic governance: Evidence from a population‐based survey experiment in four West European countries
The study of subjective democratic legitimacy from a citizens’ perspective has become an important strand of research in political science. Echoing the well‐known distinction between ‘input‐oriented’ and ‘output‐oriented’ legitimacy, the scientific debate on this topic has coined two opposed views. Some scholars find that citizens have a strong and intrinsic preference for meaningful participation in collective decision making. But others argue, …
Why voluntary municipal merger projects fail: Evidence from popular votes in Switzerland
What determines the failure of local government amalgamation referenda? Existing research suggests that functional pressures act as a push factor towards local territorial reform, whereas considerations of political self-determination exert a pull effect. However, we know little about the respective importance of these countervailing forces. In this paper, I analyze popular vote decisions on mergers of 541 municipalities involved in 166 different…
Incented Voluntary Municipal Mergers as a Two-Stage Process: Evidence from the Swiss Canton of Fribourg
Voluntary mergers of local jurisdictions in Europe gained in importance in the last two decades. A debated but rarely analyzed issue in this field is the impact of different local characteristics on the probability to merge. The article contributes to this debate by assessing the importance of local determinants in two stages of a merger process. The quantitative study of a large-scale territorial reform in the Swiss canton of Fribourg shows that…
The importance of input and output legitimacy in democratic governance: Evidence from a population‐based survey experiment in four West European countries
The study of subjective democratic legitimacy from a citizens’ perspective has become an important strand of research in political science. Echoing the well‐known distinction between ‘input‐oriented’ and ‘output‐oriented’ legitimacy, the scientific debate on this topic has coined two opposed views. Some scholars find that citizens have a strong and intrinsic preference for meaningful participation in collective decision making. But others argue, …
Why voluntary municipal merger projects fail: Evidence from popular votes in Switzerland
What determines the failure of local government amalgamation referenda? Existing research suggests that functional pressures act as a push factor towards local territorial reform, whereas considerations of political self-determination exert a pull effect. However, we know little about the respective importance of these countervailing forces. In this paper, I analyze popular vote decisions on mergers of 541 municipalities involved in 166 different…
Incented Voluntary Municipal Mergers as a Two-Stage Process: Evidence from the Swiss Canton of Fribourg
Voluntary mergers of local jurisdictions in Europe gained in importance in the last two decades. A debated but rarely analyzed issue in this field is the impact of different local characteristics on the probability to merge. The article contributes to this debate by assessing the importance of local determinants in two stages of a merger process. The quantitative study of a large-scale territorial reform in the Swiss canton of Fribourg shows that…
Citizens’ attitudes towards local autonomy and inter-local cooperation: Evidence from Western Europe
Recent decades have seen a strengthening of local autonomy in many European states. At the same time, local governance capacities were strengthened through intermunicipal structures and territorial consolidation to prepare local authorities for additional tasks. In this paper, we assess what citizens think about strengthening local autonomy and strengthening inter-local cooperation. We argue that citizens’ attitudes towards local autonomy and int…
The political economy of territorial integration referendums
When do political communities support territorial amalgamation in referendums? Existing research has identified heterogeneity between communities as a key hurdle for integration reforms. In this paper, I demonstrate that asymmetries between communities do not necessarily impede political integration. An analysis of 1500 municipal merger referendums held in Swiss municipalities since the new millennium shows that voters’ support for integration is…
The Swiss Patrician Families between Decline and Persistence: Power Positions and Kinship Ties (1890–1957)
Scholarship demonstrated the major role of inheritance and kinship for elite’s power reproduction, particularly among noble families. In the absence of monarchic and court structures, ruling classes that enjoyed privileges and engaged in social closure could become the functional equivalent of a nobility. In this paper, we examine the evolution of the power of Swiss patrician families in the three major Swiss cities (Basel, Geneva, and Zurich) si…
From local champions to global players: A long-term perspective on Swiss companies' connections across territorial scales
Corporate interlocking at the national and transnational scale has received substantive scholarly attention. Less is known about companies' ties to the cities and regions in which they have their seats. In this paper, we conduct a long-term analysis of the multilevel ties that companies maintain with the local and the national context they are embedded in. To do so, we adopt a positional approach and identify the directors of the major companies …
Who supports metropolitan integration? Citizens’ perceptions of city-regional governance in Western Europe
The appropriate scale of metropolitan governance has been the subject of long-running debates. These debates between institutional fragmentation and integration proponents have revolved around the efficiency and effectiveness of metropolitan governance structures. However, the democratic acceptability of such reforms – whether and which citizens support or oppose metropolitan integration – has been largely ignored. This article makes two contribu…
Élites et pouvoir dans les grandes villes suisses (1890-2020)
Qui règne sur les grandes villes suisses ? Les partis de gauche, les dirigeant ·e·s des principales banques, ou plutôt les anciennes familles patriciennes ? Cet ouvrage aborde ces questions dans une perspective longue en offrant de nouvelles et stimulantes perspectives sur l'histoire des élites. En ouvrant la voie à une histoire transnationale des élites locales, il explore aussi les ramifications de ces élites à diverses échelles spatiales. En r…
The Front and the Back Stage of Power: Formal and Informal Social Capital among Business Elites in the Three Largest Swiss Cities, 1890-2000
In the resurgence of elite sociology, formal (organizational-based network resources) and informal (non-organizational relations) social capital have garnered attention, but their mutual dynamics remain underexplored. This study addresses this gap, examining how both forms intersect among urban business elites, focusing on their roles on corporate boards, perceived as a front stage of power, and their places of residence, representing a back stag…
Populism and the scales of statehood. Localism and populist attitudes in Western Europe
The rise of populism in Western Europe is often portrayed as a reaction to globalisation and supra-national integration processes. However, the domestic-international divide is only one aspect of the scalar organisation of government. In this article, we explore the relationship between populist attitudes and orientations towards state scales more generally. Drawing on a representative survey of 4033 citizens in Britain, France, Germany and Switz…
When do subnational jurisdictional mergers impact voting
Despite numerous territorial reforms of municipalities and regions across Europe, the impact of jurisdictional mergers on voting, i.e., citizens' party vote choice and parties' vote shares, has received scant attention in the literature. In this article, we explore the conditions under which jurisdictional reforms impact voting. We argue that citizens base their vote choice on their merger position when they find the merger issue important and th…
The Urban Left in Power: Comparing the Profiles of ‘Municipal Socialists’ and the ‘New Urban Left’ in Swiss Cities
Today, many cities in post‐industrial societies are strongholds of left and progressive political forces. Almost 100 years ago, left parties had instituted municipal socialism in several European cities. In this article, we compare these two periods of left urban rule by focusing on the long‐term changes over the last 120 years in the socio‐demographic profile of urban left elites in four major Swiss cities. Our analysis of left elected represent…
Participatory processes and their outcomes: Comparing Assembly and Popular Vote Decisions
How do face-to-face, assembly processes, and non-face-to-face, popular vote processes impact the decisions made by citizens? Normative discussions of the comparative merits of these two broad types of participatory decision-making processes partly rely on empirical assumptions concerning this question. In this paper, we test the central assumption that assemblies lead to decisions that are more widely supported by participants than popular votes.…
Incented Voluntary Municipal Mergers as a Two-Stage Process: Evidence from the Swiss Canton of Fribourg
Voluntary mergers of local jurisdictions in Europe gained in importance in the last two decades. A debated but rarely analyzed issue in this field is the impact of different local characteristics on the probability to merge. The article contributes to this debate by assessing the importance of local determinants in two stages of a merger process. The quantitative study of a large-scale territorial reform in the Swiss canton of Fribourg shows that…
The importance of input and output legitimacy in democratic governance: Evidence from a population‐based survey experiment in four West European countries
The study of subjective democratic legitimacy from a citizens’ perspective has become an important strand of research in political science. Echoing the well‐known distinction between ‘input‐oriented’ and ‘output‐oriented’ legitimacy, the scientific debate on this topic has coined two opposed views. Some scholars find that citizens have a strong and intrinsic preference for meaningful participation in collective decision making. But others argue, …
Why voluntary municipal merger projects fail: Evidence from popular votes in Switzerland
What determines the failure of local government amalgamation referenda? Existing research suggests that functional pressures act as a push factor towards local territorial reform, whereas considerations of political self-determination exert a pull effect. However, we know little about the respective importance of these countervailing forces. In this paper, I analyze popular vote decisions on mergers of 541 municipalities involved in 166 different…
Citizens’ attitudes towards local autonomy and inter-local cooperation: Evidence from Western Europe
Recent decades have seen a strengthening of local autonomy in many European states. At the same time, local governance capacities were strengthened through intermunicipal structures and territorial consolidation to prepare local authorities for additional tasks. In this paper, we assess what citizens think about strengthening local autonomy and strengthening inter-local cooperation. We argue that citizens’ attitudes towards local autonomy and int…
Who supports metropolitan integration? Citizens’ perceptions of city-regional governance in Western Europe
The appropriate scale of metropolitan governance has been the subject of long-running debates. These debates between institutional fragmentation and integration proponents have revolved around the efficiency and effectiveness of metropolitan governance structures. However, the democratic acceptability of such reforms – whether and which citizens support or oppose metropolitan integration – has been largely ignored. This article makes two contribu…
Participatory processes and their outcomes: Comparing Assembly and Popular Vote Decisions
How do face-to-face, assembly processes, and non-face-to-face, popular vote processes impact the decisions made by citizens? Normative discussions of the comparative merits of these two broad types of participatory decision-making processes partly rely on empirical assumptions concerning this question. In this paper, we test the central assumption that assemblies lead to decisions that are more widely supported by participants than popular votes.…
A policy-centred approach to inter-municipal cooperation
This paper demonstrates how policy-specific characteristics affect inter-municipal cooperation. We investigate if a municipality’s cooperation activity in a policy area hinges on whether the policy is considered relevant or politicized by local officials. Using data from two surveys of Swiss local administrators and officials conducted in 2017 that include detailed questions on public service provision, we find that the perceived relevance of a p…
The political economy of territorial integration referendums
When do political communities support territorial amalgamation in referendums? Existing research has identified heterogeneity between communities as a key hurdle for integration reforms. In this paper, I demonstrate that asymmetries between communities do not necessarily impede political integration. An analysis of 1500 municipal merger referendums held in Swiss municipalities since the new millennium shows that voters’ support for integration is…
The Urban Left in Power: Comparing the Profiles of ‘Municipal Socialists’ and the ‘New Urban Left’ in Swiss Cities
Today, many cities in post‐industrial societies are strongholds of left and progressive political forces. Almost 100 years ago, left parties had instituted municipal socialism in several European cities. In this article, we compare these two periods of left urban rule by focusing on the long‐term changes over the last 120 years in the socio‐demographic profile of urban left elites in four major Swiss cities. Our analysis of left elected represent…
From local champions to global players: A long-term perspective on Swiss companies' connections across territorial scales
Corporate interlocking at the national and transnational scale has received substantive scholarly attention. Less is known about companies' ties to the cities and regions in which they have their seats. In this paper, we conduct a long-term analysis of the multilevel ties that companies maintain with the local and the national context they are embedded in. To do so, we adopt a positional approach and identify the directors of the major companies …
The Swiss Patrician Families between Decline and Persistence: Power Positions and Kinship Ties (1890–1957)
Scholarship demonstrated the major role of inheritance and kinship for elite’s power reproduction, particularly among noble families. In the absence of monarchic and court structures, ruling classes that enjoyed privileges and engaged in social closure could become the functional equivalent of a nobility. In this paper, we examine the evolution of the power of Swiss patrician families in the three major Swiss cities (Basel, Geneva, and Zurich) si…
Populism and the scales of statehood. Localism and populist attitudes in Western Europe
The rise of populism in Western Europe is often portrayed as a reaction to globalisation and supra-national integration processes. However, the domestic-international divide is only one aspect of the scalar organisation of government. In this article, we explore the relationship between populist attitudes and orientations towards state scales more generally. Drawing on a representative survey of 4033 citizens in Britain, France, Germany and Switz…
Élites et pouvoir dans les grandes villes suisses (1890-2020)
Qui règne sur les grandes villes suisses ? Les partis de gauche, les dirigeant ·e·s des principales banques, ou plutôt les anciennes familles patriciennes ? Cet ouvrage aborde ces questions dans une perspective longue en offrant de nouvelles et stimulantes perspectives sur l'histoire des élites. En ouvrant la voie à une histoire transnationale des élites locales, il explore aussi les ramifications de ces élites à diverses échelles spatiales. En r…
When do subnational jurisdictional mergers impact voting
Despite numerous territorial reforms of municipalities and regions across Europe, the impact of jurisdictional mergers on voting, i.e., citizens' party vote choice and parties' vote shares, has received scant attention in the literature. In this article, we explore the conditions under which jurisdictional reforms impact voting. We argue that citizens base their vote choice on their merger position when they find the merger issue important and th…
The residential patterns of Swiss urban elites: Continuity and change across elite categories (1890–2000)
Numerous studies have focused on wealth elites’ housing, including their spatial and social exclusiveness. The insertion of the power elite in urban space has, however, largely been left unexplored. By combining positional and residential information on over 7,400 urban elites, we study how academic, economic, and political elites’ residential patterns have evolved from 1890 to 2000 in the three largest Swiss cities (Basel, Geneva, Zurich). First…
The Front and the Back Stage of Power: Formal and Informal Social Capital among Business Elites in the Three Largest Swiss Cities, 1890-2000
In the resurgence of elite sociology, formal (organizational-based network resources) and informal (non-organizational relations) social capital have garnered attention, but their mutual dynamics remain underexplored. This study addresses this gap, examining how both forms intersect among urban business elites, focusing on their roles on corporate boards, perceived as a front stage of power, and their places of residence, representing a back stag…
Political science (14 works) · Law (13 works) · Politics (12 works) · Economics (11 works) · Sociology (10 works) · Law (9 works) · Political economy (9 works) · Electoral Systems and Political Participation (8 works) · Public Administration (8 works) · Geography (6 works)