Electoral and Financial Bookkeeping: A Comparison of Pre-Electoral Pledges on Public Spending and the Outcome of Post-Electoral Budget Debates

In the wake of the financial crisis, budgetary discipline has taken centre stage in politics. More than ever a country's budget mirrors the true policy preferences of the legislative majority beyond all political discourse and cheap talk. The paper sheds light on mandate fulfilment in the field of public spending and fiscal policy in general. Based on previous work on pledge fulfilment in Switzerland the paper compares publicised pre-electoral statements of MPs on public spending and the development of the public finances with their post-electoral legislative behaviour during budget debates and votes. The findings of the paper confirm the results of the aforementioned earlier studies and point to the potential of budgetary statements for future mandate fulfilment research.

Tracing the Evidence: The Use of Evaluation Results in Direct-Democratic Campaigns

Although research on direct-democratic campaigns in Switzerland has intensified in the last decade, detailed information on the use of evidence in campaigns is still lacking. Our research aims to contribute both to research on direct democracy and to research on evidence-based policy making, by analyzing how evaluation results are used in directdemocratic campaigns. In this conceptual paper, the formulation of our hypothesis is based on a model of evaluation influence that traces the different uses of evaluation results in the process of a direct-democratic campaign. We assume that the policy analytical capacity of individual members in parliament, government and administration in the (pre)-parliamentary process fosters the use of evidence in campaigns. In the course of the campaign, symbolic use of evaluation in the form of justification, persuasion or mobilization prevails. We assume that the media is an important player in making transparent how political actors use evidence to support their positions. Evidence itself often remains ambiguous and uncertain, and evaluations are influenced by the values of the evaluator. To be able to make the right decisions, therefore, citizens should learn about possible interpretations in argumentative processes. For us, the context of direct democracy in Switzerland provides the setting for such a discourse that, besides evidence, brings up different opinions, values and beliefs.

Smart Democracy für Smart Cities – Online-Wahlhilfen und ihr Beitrag zu einer modernen Demokratie

Der Beitrag geht der Frage nach, welchen Beitrag so genannte Online-Wahlhilfen zu einer gut funktionierenden modernen Demokratie leisten und welche Rolle sie im Rahmen des Smart City-Konzepts einnehmen können. Dabei dient die Schweizer Online-Wahlhilfe smartvote als Fallstudie und die Gemeinderats- (Legislative) und Stadtratswahlen (Exekutive) in der Stadt Zürich vom 9. Februar 2014 als konkretes Anwendungsbeispiel. Neben der Funktionsweise wird auch erläutert, wie die Benutzung durch Parteien und Kandidierende, Medien sowie Wähler in der Praxis abläuft. Es wird auch diskutiert, was Online-Wahlhilfen leisten können. Schließlich wird darauf eingegangen, wo bei der Anwendung dieser Plattformen noch ungenutzte Potenziale stecken und welche Risiken mit ihrem Einsatz verbunden sind. Der Beitrag zeigt, wie smartvote und vergleichbare Projekte idealtypisch im Sinne einer Smart Democracy in Verknüpfung mit anderen Daten und Instrumenten die Qualität einer modernen Demokratie verbessern können.

Same same but different: Locational policies in small and medium-sized European cities

Globalized interurban competition is affecting cities of various sizes and locations. Small and medium-sized cities have to find ways to position themselves in global markets by formulating locational policies. This paper outlines an analytical framework of locational policies that cities adopt in order to increase their competitiveness. By comparing two European small and mediumsized cities (Lucerne and Ulm), we examine manifestations of locational policies and compare if these policies are being diverse or resemble each other. We found that strategies of both cities are sharing the intentions to be competitive, but their policy choices differ because the economic and political context is enabling or restricting certain kinds of locational policies. Furthermore, the findings point to the high explanatory power of municipal tax autonomy when studying locational policies.