Switzerland - referendum on immigration see our quick links

This week Switzerland has been voting in a series of referendums. One of which covers proposals relating to immigration.

Here are some receommended starting points for some quick academic research.

The IFES website has a brief guide in English to what the referendum was about.

Detailed materials, legislation and statements from the Swiss Government can be found on the official website.

why are the Swiss worried about immigration? See the Swiss Federal office for Migration which has official policies and data

The Office fédéral de la statistique also has a useful page with statistics on numbers of immigrants where you can trace trends. Interestingly Martin Grand Jean has mapped the results of the referendum at a local level with statistics the local population. so you can see if votes for quotas coincided with areas of high immigrant population.

For further news coverage, discussion and comment.

Try Swiss Info (English)
24 heures.ch (French) has a special dossier with photographs, images of Swiss front pages and graphs showing results

Le Temps has coverage of immigration issues in Switzerland (in France) and their relationship to the vote.

Popular newspaper le Matin - has a 6 point guide in French to the impact of the vote on immigration.

Thailand elections - who are the protestors?

Elections in Thailand have been marred by violence.

Asian Correspondent had a blog on its website called SIAM Voices which recorded events live.
our previous posting has some suggestions on academic sites where you can keep up to date with news and think tank coverage


For further information on one of the main organisers of the protests -
Suthep Thaugsuban see these suggestions.
 There is an official facebook site and the website Reform Thailand (thai language)
 but for those seeking saomething more basic.

Radio Australia had a basic introduction which asked who is Suthep Thaugsuban
which was aided in December 2013. It is introduced by Dr Nicholas Farrelly, Research Fellow at the Australian National University and there is a transcript on the website.

The Washington Post has a collection of articles about him and the unfolding Thailand protests.
As does the Bangkok Post.
and the Nation.