Democracy Lab Basel
The Democracy Lab Basel project (Democracy Lab Association/BFH) tested seven specific reform approaches that addressed specific challenges. The aim was to contribute to the modernisation of democratic structures and processes.
Factsheet
- Schools involved Business School
- Institute(s) Institute for Public Sector Transformation
- Funding organisation Others
- Duration (planned) 01.01.2022 - 31.12.2024
- Head of project Dr. Daniel Schwarz Badertscher
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Project staff
Jan Fivaz
Dr. Annique Lombard -
Partner
Verein Demokratie Labor
Raiffeisen Jubiläumsstiftung
Christoph Merian Stiftung - Keywords Digital Democracy, Experimental Studies, Partizipation, Opinion making, Evaluation
Situation
Developments such as digitalisation, climate change, autocratic tendencies, polarisation of society and declining voluntary engagement are exerting growing pressure on modern democracies to address problems and implement reforms. However, Swiss democracy has hardly changed institutionally over the last 100 years. There is therefore a great need to adapt the instruments of participation and involvement. The project tested reform approaches for better quality citizen involvement.
Course of action
Based on existing political structures, between 2022 and 2025 the BFH identified new approaches to democratic participation, opinion-forming and co-determination, tested them experimentally for their practical suitability and translated them into concrete implementation proposals. The individual sub-projects involved a sample of around 3,000 citizens of the canton of Basel-Stadt recruited by means of a random sample.
Result
The description, results and conclusions of the individual sub-projects can be found on the Democracy Lab website (see below). The final findings and recommendations for action on the ‘Basel Democracy Lab’ were published as a policy brief (see link).
