Abstract

The article retraces the scientific and political debate on basic income in Switzerland contextualising it (a) in the international discussion on basic income and in the transformation of labour market from the 1990s onwards, and (b) in the history of social security measures in Switzerland from the mid-nineteenth century. The article aims to highlight how the Swiss debate was conditioned by a fundamental resistance of Swiss society to the introduction of citizenship income, manifested in particular through referendum. It is also pointed out that another fundamental reason for the failure of basic income in Switzerland is the efficient welfare State in the Swiss Confederation.