The data about Swiss political elites made open access are part of the database about Swiss Elites created and managed by OBELIS (The Swiss Elite Observatory). OBELIS’ main goal is to document and study actors in positions of power in the Swiss political, economic, administrative, and academic spheres in the 20th and 21st centuries, and to gain a better understanding of the power relations that structure Swiss society. Over the last years, OBELIS hosted several research projects funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation which are linked to each other and constitute the cumulative Swiss Elites Database. It contains currently more than 40,000 entries on political, economic, administrative, and academic elites which can be consulted online.
The data about political elites were initially collected for the research project “The Swiss elites in the 20th century: an incomplete process of differentiation?” (Les élites suisses au 20ème siècle : un processus de différenciation inachevé ?) funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation from 2007 to 2010. The principal investigators were Professors André Mach and Thomas David and research collaborators were Andrea Pilotti (who focused on political elites), Stéphanie Ginalski (on economic elites), Frédéric Rebmann (on administrative elites), as well as Steven Piguet (as IT engineer).
Other Obelis projects about Swiss Elites can be found in SWISSUbase : Obelis Swiss Economic Elites (ref. 20815), Administrative Elites (ref. 20708) and Academic Elites (ref. 11687).
