The Swiss narrative of democracy is a well-known and well-studied topic. Not only is it still used by current—mostly populist and xenophobic—political actors, but it has been explored by at least two generations of historians who have tracked its development before the French Revolution and, to a lesser extent, during the 19th century, a period during which Swiss democracy was undergoing dramatic changes. This literature shows that this narrative was first an account of Swiss liberty before focusing on democracy per se. It also demonstrates that the democracy it depicts has very little to do with its medieval counterpart. However, historians mostly overlook a crucial element, which is highlighted in this volume, as they fail to truly analyse the use of the narrative form—and the consequences of its use, per se. By focusing first on the emergence of this narrative and then by thoroughly exploring its development during the post-revolutionary period, along with the evolution of democracy itself, this article seeks to prove the importance of the narrative (form) for the evolution of Swiss modern democracy—even today.

中文翻译：

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故事的悲哀？瑞士民主叙事的出现、变迁和（过度）效率

瑞士的民主叙事是一个众所周知且经过充分研究的话题。它不仅仍然被当前的——主要是民粹主义和仇外主义的——政治演员所使用，而且至少有两代历史学家已经探索过它，他们在法国大革命之前追踪了它的发展，在较小程度上，在 19 世纪，在此期间，瑞士民主正在发生巨大变化。这些文献表明，在关注民主本身之前，这种叙述首先是对瑞士自由的描述。它还表明，它所描绘的民主与中世纪的民主几乎没有关系。然而，历史学家大多忽略了本卷中强调的一个关键因素，因为他们未能真正分析叙事形式的使用——及其使用的后果本身。