History
The elements liberal, radical and 'free-thinking' (German: freisinnig) in the party's name originate from the conflicts during the period of Restoration (Switzerland) between the Catholic-conservative cantons and the liberal cantons. This conflict led to the foundation of the Swiss federal state in 1848 after the victory of the Protestant-liberal cantons in the Sonderbund war.
From 1848 until 1891, the Federal Council was composed entirely of Radicals. The radical movement of the restoration was radical, and stood in opposition to the conservative Catholic Conservative Party. They were otherwise heterogeneous, including and classical liberal 'Liberals', federalist 'Radicals', and social liberal 'Democrats': placing the radical movement on the 'left' of the political spectrum. It was not until the rise of the Social Democratic Party in the early 20th century that the FDP found itself on the centre-right.
The FDP was the dominant party until the 1919 election, when the introduction of proportional representation led to a leap in the representation of the Social Democrats. In 1959, the Free Democrats joined the other major parties in agreeing the 'magic formula' to divide up the seats of the Federal Council, with the FDP permanently receiving two of the seven seats.
After the federal election 2003 FDP and Liberal Party formed a common faction in the Federal Assembly. In June 2005, they strengthened their cooperation by founding Radical and Liberal Union They merged on 1 January 2009 to form FDP.The Liberals.
Read more about this topic: Free Democratic Party Of Switzerland
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—Stefan Zweig (18811942)
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—Terri Apter (20th century)