Catching the EC train : Austria and Switzerland in comparative perspective

Abstract

The adoption of the Single Market programme in the mid-1980s represented a genuine challenge for the small EFTA countries. This common challenge did not lead to similar responses, however. Our contribution aims at highlighting this diversity through a comparative analysis of Austria and Switzerland. We focus on how decision-makers in the two countries amended central policy courses in response to these changes. Based on the analytical concept of coherence that takes into account internal as well as external aspects of foreign policy-making we examine whether these policy amendments were consistent with domestic and international constraints. We show that Austria is a case of good strategic mastery by the government. Coherence with both the domestic and the external context resulted in a determined course of action that pushed Austria smoothly into the Community. In contrast, fellow EFTA member, Switzerland, suffered major policy setbacks with regard to European integration. Most noticeably, the Swiss government showed a very poor strategic understanding of the external context and believed that the European Economic Area would provide Switzerland with both market access and political rights. The end result is that Switzerland finds itself being the former EFTA country with the smallest access to the Single Market.