On 3 January 2025, Dodis celebrated the publication of the Diplomatic Documents of Switzerland DDS 1994 at the University of Bern. Prof. em. Dr. Madeleine Herren-Oesch, President of the Dodis Commission, welcomed the many Amiche e Amici di Dodis who had gathered for the occasion. Prof. Dr. Sacha Zala, Director of Dodis, then presented the new volume of Diplomatic Documents of Switzerland, impressively illustrating how closely Switzerland’s domestic and foreign policies are intertwined. Valérie de Graffenried (Le Temps) echoed the Dodis director’s explanations in her interview with the evening’s guest of honour, former Federal Councillor Ruth Dreifuss. The Minister of the Interior from 1993 to 2002 gave the audience an in-depth insight into the events of 1994.
Photo: Karl-Heinz Hug
Watch the entire vernissage on 3 January 2025:
Swiss foreign policy must also negotiate with the people. The President of the Confederation, Otto Stich, was well aware of this when he spoke on the Swiss television programme «Arena» on 16 September 1994 in defence of the law against racism, which had been submitted to a referendum. Earlier in the year, the Federal Council had suffered painful defeats over the direction of its international policy, with the acceptance of the Alpine initiative in February and the rejection of the federal law on Swiss troops for peacekeeping operations (blue helmets) in June. While the Federal Council successfully won the vote on 25 September on Switzerland’s accession to the UN Convention against Racism, 1994 nevertheless provided a striking demonstration of the extent to which its foreign policy could be subject to opposing winds – and the extent to which Switzerland’s domestic and foreign policies are closely intertwined.
This interconnection is also apparent in the many other issues that shaped Switzerland’s international relations in 1994: in negotiations with the EU on sectoral bilateral agreements, in environmental and energy policy, and in dealing with the Parliament and the cantons, which wished to play a greater part in shaping foreign policy. All these elements are featured in the Diplomatic Documents of Switzerland 1994, which the Dodis research centre will publish on 1 January 2025.
- Direct access to the volume DDS 1994
- To the press release
Programm for the vernissage on 3 January 2025
Begrüssung durch
Prof. em. Dr. Madeleine Herren, Präsidentin der Kommission Dodis
Prof. Dr. Sacha Zala, Direttore Dodis
Presentazione del nuovo volume
Conseillère fédérale Ruth Dreifuss
Entretien avec
Valérie de Graffenried, Le Temps
Apéro