Understanding Political Knowledge and Its Influence on Voting Preferences in the 2007 Federal Election

In this article we propose a model to explain how voters' perceptions of their ideological proximity to a party affect their propensity to vote for that party. We argue that political knowledge plays a crucial moderating role in the relationship between party proximity and voting propensity. It is necessary, however, to distinguish between institutional knowledge (information about the political system) and party knowledge (information about the parties' left-right positions). An analysis of survey data from the 2007 Swiss federal elections supports our main hypothesis that party knowledge enhances the link between party proximity and voting propensity. Institutional knowledge may have additional influence, but clear evidence for this effect was obtained only for propensities to vote for the Swiss People's Party (SVP). Overall, the impact of political knowledge was found to be substantial, even after controlling for the outstanding influence of party identification and other predictors of voting propensities

In the name of democracy: Disobedience and value-oriented citizenship

Recently, some scholars have highlighted a paradoxical phenomenon existing in democratic systems:Those people who show the greatest support for democracy are also those most willing to protestagainst the authority and to question it. However, if we consider the tasks of contemporary democraticcitizenship in a social-psychological perspective, this apparent paradox becomes understandable.Obedience to authority may ensure the continuity of social and group life, but disobedience may becrucial in stopping the authority relationship from degenerating into an authoritarian one. FollowingKelman and Hamilton's analysis of legitimacy dynamics, we consider how actions of disobediencemay serve the defence of democracy. In particular, by considering the different ways in which peoplerelate to the political system, the relevance of so-called value-oriented citizens in supportingdemocracy will be considered.

Playing Second Fiddle: Expert Advice and Decision-Making in Switzerland

This thesis concerns the role of scientific expertise in the decision-making process at the Swiss federal level of government. It aims to understand how institutional and issue-specific factors influence three things: the distribution of access to scientific expertise, its valuation by participants in policy for- mulation, and the consequence(s) its mobilization has on policy politics and design. The theoretical framework developed builds on the assumption that scientific expertise is a strategic resource. In order to effectively mobilize this resource, actors require financial and organizational resources, as well as the conviction that it can advance their instrumental interests within a particular action situation. Institutions of the political system allocate these financial and organizational resources, influence the supply of scientific expertise, and help shape the venue of its deployment. Issue structures, in turn, condition both interaction configurations and the way in which these are anticipated by actors. This affects the perceived utility of expertise mobilization, mediating its consequences. The findings of this study show that the ability to access and control scientific expertise is strongly concentrated in the hands of the federal administration. Civil society actors have weak capacities to mobilize it, and the autonomy of institutionalized advisory bodies is limited. Moreover, the production of scientific expertise is undergoing a process of professionalization which strengthens the position of the federal administration as the (main) mandating agent. Despite increased political polarization and less inclu- sive decision-making, scientific expertise remains anchored in the policy subsystem, rather than being used to legitimate policy through appeals to the wider population. Finally, the structure of a policy problem matters both for expertise mobilization and for the latter's impact on the policy process, be- cause it conditions conflict structures and their anticipation. Structured problems result in a greater overlap between the principal of expertise mobilization and its intended audience, thereby increasing the chance that expertise shapes policy design. Conversely, less structured problems, especially those that involve conflicts about values and goals, reduce the impact of expertise.

Doctoral education's reform in Switzerland and Norway : a public management analyis

This doctoral thesis examines a recent phenomenon in European higher education, namely the reform of doctoral education. On the basis of a number of case studies, consisting of Swiss and Norwegian doctoral schools, and their institutional, national and international context, it demonstrates to what extent changes appear in doctoral education and its governance. Findings indicate new practices regarding doctoral students' recruitment, curricular component, supervision, scientific exchange, follow-up and their career. Doctoral education's character is not anymore exclusively determined by individual supervisors, but increasingly by interdisciplinary and interinstitutional colleges of academics. Finally, general governance patterns are identified: according to the type of scientific discipline and higher education institution, the institution's size and national political system, the field of higher education is more or less dominated by New Public Management or Network Governance characteristics.

Putting the Special Case in Its Place: Switzerland and Small-N Comparison in Policy Research

This research note presents a set of strategies to conduct small-N comparisons in policy research including the Swiss case. Even though every country can be considered "special" to some extent, the Swiss political system is often viewed as a particularly difficult case for comparison because of the impact of its idiosyncratic institutional features (most notably direct democracy). In order to deal with this problem, our note sets out two possible strategies - the use of functional equivalents and of counterfactual reasoning - and explains how to implement them empirically through process tracing and the establishment of causal chains. As an illustration, these strategies are used for a comparison of the process of electricity market liberalisation in Switzerland and Belgium.

Politique fédérale des agglomérations dans les domaines des transports et de l'urbanisation

La croissance de la population, de l'économie et des transports individuels motorisés, particulièrement depuis la seconde moitié du 20ème siècle, ont notamment comme corollaire le développement urbanistique hors des frontières de la ville-centre et la formation des agglomérations. Ces zones urbaines sont stratégiques puisqu'elles accueillent une part toujours plus importante de la population et représentent le moteur de l'économie nationale. Toutefois, le développement des agglomérations et de la mobilité individuelle motorisée ne va pas sans poser de nombreux problèmes, dont la résolution nécessite de les aborder à l'échelle de l'agglomération, en coordonnant les transports et l'urbanisation. Notre système politique fédéral se définit notamment par une répartition des compétences dans une multitude de domaines entre les trois niveaux institutionnels de la Confédération, des cantons et des communes. Cette réalité est particulièrement vraie en matière d'aménagement du territoire. Il est à noter que les plus petites unités institutionnelles (les communes) conservent encore aujourd'hui des prérogatives importantes dans ce domaine. Au début des années 2000, la Confédération a développé une politique publique en faveur de ces zones stratégiques. Au moyen du fonds d'infrastructure, la politique fédérale des agglomérations dans les domaines des transports et de l'urbanisation est une politique publique incitative. Le dépôt, par les agglomérations, d'un projet respectant un cahier des charges précis et proposant des mesures de coordination entre les transports et l'urbanisation, permet d'obtenir un cofinancement fédéral du transport d'agglomération. Parmi les projets d'agglomération de première génération présentés à la Confédération, certains ont obtenu le cofinancement, d'autres pas. Le dimensionnement trop généreux des surfaces à bâtir fut notamment un facteur d'échec du projet d'agglomération de Fribourg, alors que la capacité à développer l'urbanisation à l'intérieur de l'agglomération fut un facteur de succès du projet Lausanne-Morges. L'analyse des projets d'agglomération Riviera et Monthey-Aigle, qui sont des projets de deuxième génération, confrontée à des entretiens avec des urbanistes et des responsables politiques, permet d'identifier leurs faiblesses et leurs atouts. Le projet d'agglomération Riviera présente une complémentarité des territoires et un grand potentiel de développement, mais aussi un manque de cohésion des partenaires du projet. Quant au projet Monthey-Aigle, il existe une réelle volonté politique de trouver des solutions aux conflits, mais les possibilités de développer les transports publics sont faibles. Dans le cadre de l'examen fédéral de ces deux projets d'agglomération, les éléments précités pourraient être des facteurs d'échec ou de succès. La politique publique fédérale invite les agglomérations à penser le développement de leurs transports et de leur urbanisation à un niveau global. La prise de hauteur et la coordination politique que cela suppose sont à même d'améliorer le lieu de vie des trois-quarts de la population suisse et de préserver le moteur de l'économie nationale. The growth of population, economy and personal motorised transportation, most particularly since the second half of the 20th century, has, as a consequence, induced an expansion of urban areas outside the borders of cities and encouraged the formation of urban agglomerations. These urban zones are of strategic importance as they attract an increasingly large population and represent a real driver of the national economy. However, the development of these agglomerations and the motorised mobility of their inhabitants cause numerous problems which require solutions to be adopted at the level of the agglomeration involving the interconnection of transport and urbanisation. Our federal political system is characterised by a distribution of responsibilities in many domains among the three institutional levels, namely the Confederation, the cantons and the communes. This is particularly the case of territorial developments. It should be noted that the smallest institutional units, the communes, still hold today important responsibilities in this area. At the beginning of the years 2000, the Confederation has developed a public policy in favour of these strategic zones. Through the establishment of an infrastructure fund, the federal policy in favour of urban agglomerations in the areas of transport and urbanisation aims at providing incentives to agglomerations. The submission by the agglomeration of a project containing a clear description of tasks and measures to integrate transport and urbanisation can result in a cofinancing participation by the Confederation in this project. Among the projects of first generation which had been submitted to the Confederation, some have received the cofinancing, others have not. The too generous dimension of the building areas in the project submitted by the agglomeration of Fribourg was a factor of its failure, while the capacity to develop urbanisation within the agglomeration was a factor of success for the Lausanne-Morges project. The analysis of the projects of the agglomerations Riviera and Monthey-Aigle which are projects of the second generation, as well as the interviews of urbanists and concerned officials have allowed us to identify their strengths and weaknesses. The Riviera project provides a complementary approach and a high potential of territorial developments, but at the same time denotes a lack of cohesion among partners of the project. With respect to the project Monthey-Aigle, there is a real political willingness to resolve conflicts, but the potential for the development of public transports is small. In the consideration by the Confederation of these two projects, the factors mentioned above may bring success or failure. The federal public policy incites the agglomerations to conceive the development of their transportation and urbanisation plans at a global level. The elevation of interests and the political coordination that this requires can improve the place of living of ¾ of the Swiss population and preserve the engine of growth of the national economy.

Policy learning in Europe : social policy and labour market reforms in 11 countries

This report compares policy learning processes in 11 European countries. Based on the country reports that were produced by the national teams of the INSPIRES project, this paper develops an argument that connects problem pressure and politicization to learning in different labor market innovations. In short, we argue that learning efforts are most likely to impact on policy change if there is a certain problem pressure that clearly necessitates political action. On the other hand, if problem pressure is very low, or so high that governments need to react immediately, chances are low that learning impacts on policy change. The second part of our argument contends that learning impacts on policy change especially if a problem is not very politicized, i.e. there are no main conflicts concerning a reform, because then, solutions are wound up in the search for a compromise. Our results confirm our first hypothesis regarding the connection between problem pressure and policy learning. Governments learn indeed up to a certain degree of problem pressure. However, once political action becomes really urgent, i.e. in anti-crisis policies, there is no time and room for learning. On the other hand, learning occurred independently from the politicization of problem. In fact, in countries that have a consensual political system, learning occurred before the decision on a reform, whereas in majoritarian systems, learning happened after the adoption of a policy during the process of implementation.

The Impact of the Electoral System on Political Campaigning : Are Candidates for the Council of States More Moderate than their Fellow Candidates for the National Council ?

It is commonly believed that majority voting enhances parties to cluster around the centre of the political space, whereas proportional systems (PR) foster great ideological divergence. The theoretical arguments for these expectations go back to the work of Downs (1957) and Duverger (1954). More recent studies, however, produced quite contradictory empirical findings. In this paper I will test whether similar arguments hold true for the positioning of candidates campaigning in different electoral systems. The elections for the two chambers of the Swiss Parliament and the data from the Swiss Electoral Studies (SELECTS) and the Swiss Voting Advice Application (VAA) smartvote offer an excellent - almost laboratory like - opportunity to do so empirically. The analyses show clearly, the theoretical claims that majority voting necessarily fosters more moderate positions find no support. The candidates for the Council of States, elected in a majority system, are not more moderate than their fellow party candidates for the National Council which are elected in a PR system.

Disobeying an Illegitimate Request in a Democratic or Authoritarian System

Crimes of obedience in the form of illegal or immoral acts committed in response to orders from authority occur in many contexts. In particular, under some circumstances of threats, people can easily accept restrictions upon democratic procedures. Recent studies have underlined the role of legitimacy in understanding the authority relationship and the importance of evaluating the legitimacy of the request rather than the legitimacy of the authority in preventing the rise of authoritarianism. The purpose of this study was to verify if people respond differently when an illegitimate request is put forward by a democratic or an authoritarian authority. The results on 224 subjects confirmed that people tend to be more obedient when they perceive authorities as democratic, notwithstanding the legitimacy of their requests.

Ambulatory healthcare information system: a conceptual framework

Despite the tremendous amount of data collected in the field of ambulatory care, political authorities still lack synthetic indicators to provide them with a global view of health services utilization and costs related to various types of diseases. Moreover, public health indicators fail to provide useful information for physicians' accountability purposes. The approach is based on the Swiss context, which is characterized by the greatest frequency of medical visits in Europe, the highest rate of growth for care expenditure, poor public information but a lot of structured data (new fee system introduced in 2004). The proposed conceptual framework is universal and based on descriptors of six entities: general population, people with poor health, patients, services, resources and effects. We show that most conceptual shortcomings can be overcome and that the proposed indicators can be achieved without threatening privacy protection, using modern cryptographic techniques. Twelve indicators are suggested for the surveillance of the ambulatory care system, almost all based on routinely available data: morbidity, accessibility, relevancy, adequacy, productivity, efficacy (from the points of view of the population, people with poor health, and patients), effectiveness, efficiency, health services coverage and financing. The additional costs of this surveillance system should not exceed Euro 2 million per year (Euro 0.3 per capita).

Satellizing Galileo? Non-state Authority and Interoperability Standards in the European Global Navigation Satellite System

This paper explores the extent and limits of non-state authority in international affairs. While a number of studies have emphasised the role of state support and the ability of strategically situated actors to capture regulatory processes, they often fail to unpack the conditions under which this takes place. In order to probe the assumption that structural market power, backed by political support, equates regulatory capture, the article examines the interplay of political and economic considerations in the negotiations to establish worldwide interoperability standards needed for the development of Galileo as a genuinely European global navigation satellite system under civil control. It argues that industries supported and identified as strategic by public actors are more likely to capture standardisation processes than those with the largest market share expected to be created by the standards. This suggests that the influence of industries in space, air and maritime traffic control closely related to the militaro-industrial complex remains disproportionate in comparison to the prospective market of location-based services expected to vastly transform business practices, labour relations and many aspects of our daily life.