Fascism rests on a two-part confidence trick. First, a leader claims to embody the will of the people. Then they argue that only by being granted sweeping powers can that be realised. Having grown up in Switzerland, I find it easy to see through this trick. That is because the policies championed by the far right rarely pass the referendum test.

Dismantling publicly funded media? In March, 62% of Swiss voters rejected a far-right initiative to halve funding for the country’s public broadcaster. Corporate tax cuts? In 2017, 59% struck down such plans of the Swiss government. Immigration police hunting down migrants? Again, 59% rejected a far-right proposal to automatically deport foreign nationals convicted of crimes without judicial review. Or this week’s resounding 70% “No” vote on a far-right proposal to tighten Switzerland’s neutrality to the point that Bern would have been forced to drop sanctions on Russia over Ukraine.

Switzerland is hardly a nation of progressives. Leftwing parties won just 29% of the vote in the most recent national elections. Women gained the right to vote only in 1971. The asylum law is one of Europe’s toughest. That, too, is the legacy of direct democracy.

Yet, most often, the country’s tradition of putting decisions out to referendum exposes how, despite dominating social media and the press amplifying its positions, the far right thrives on imagined majorities.

Direct democracy also frustrates the second part of the authoritarian project: the power grab. From Donald Trump to Giorgia Meloni, the right seeks to centralise power. Direct democracy disperses........

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