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Citizens’ Assembly discusses ways to tackle rising healthcare costs

Written by Mireille Braun on . Posted in Media releases, Unkategorisiert.

  • The 2025 Citizens’ Assembly, consisting of 100 randomly selected residents of Switzerland,
    is meeting for the first time this weekend at the University of Zurich.
  • During the kick-off weekend, participants will gain an in-depth understanding of the topic of «rising healthcare costs» and determine a focus for further discussions.
  • The research project coordinated by the Centre for Democracy Studies Aarau (ZDA) at the
    Universities of Zurich and Geneva is investigating whether and how citizens’ assemblies
    enrich democratic debates.

Rising healthcare costs are among the most pressing challenges facing Switzerland.
With premiums skyrocketing, hospitals closing and healthcare staff overworked, healthcare policy is in crisis – solutions are needed. This weekend, the Citizens’ Assembly is meeting at the University of Zurich. At this kick-off meeting, 100 randomly selected participants from across Switzerland with different backgrounds and experiences will come together to discuss the issue.
from all over Switzerland with different backgrounds and experiences will engage in conversation with one another.


The Citizens’ Assembly is a new way for citizens to come together to discuss important social issues and negotiate solutions. The focus is on ordinary Swiss residents: people of all ages, from
a wide range of professions and regions of the country. Over the course of several weekend events and digital meetings, they will take an in-depth look at the current problem of rising healthcare costs. This randomly selected group reflects the diversity of perspectives and experiences within society and thus brings its own concerns and needs to the discussion.


Basic insurance, hospitals or coordination of care?


During the opening weekend, participants will receive a comprehensive overview of the
functioning and objectives of the Citizens’ Assembly. In addition to getting to know each other and
familiarising themselves with the topic of ‘rising healthcare costs’, participants will define a
focus for further discussions. The aim is to narrow down the topic and determining what is particularly relevant to the People’s Council – for example, basic insurance, hospitals, volume expansion, coordination of care, or health promotion and prevention.


New impetus in health policy


The research project investigates whether citizens‘ assemblies are suitable for conducting important social debates. Particularly in the field of health policy, where political decision-making often stagnates, citizens’ assemblies could provide new impetus. The topics for the citizens’ assembly were selected in a transparent and broadly supported process, which identified healthcare costs as a particularly urgent issue.

Prof. Dr. Daniel Kübler, co-initiator at the University of Zurich, says: «With the People’s Council,
we are creating a space where the population can directly express their views on socially important issues. In health policy in particular, we need solutions that take into account the interests and concerns of citizens.»


Citizens’ Assembly drafts final report with reform proposals


Participant and mother of two Anaïs Zingg (30) from Zuzwil in the canton of St. Gallen is excited:
«I’m looking forward to discussing rising healthcare costs with people from all over Switzerland.
It’s an issue that affects us all. Hopefully, we can make a difference as a People’s Council.»

The Citizens’ Assembly will present its findings in spring 2025. A final report is intended to form the basis for an objective, public debate and provide policymakers with a differentiated picture of opinions. In it, the Citizens’ Assembly will prepare arguments for various reform proposals and take a position on them.

This form of participation creates new spaces for social debates, strengthening the quality of public opinion formation and debate culture. This could be significant not only in health policy, but also in other areas of society.

Further information: www.pnyx25.uzh.ch

Photos of the opening weekend: https://www.flickr.com/gp/200893765@N03/77z6315bw6
(are continuously updated on the weekend)

Contact:

POLIS No. 14

POLIS No. 14 «The machine is political. AI, democracy and education»

Written by Mireille Braun on . Posted in Current news, Unkategorisiert.

The new issue of the magazine for political education, POLIS, has been published: «The machine is political. AI, democracy and education»

The rapid development of artificial intelligence has recently caused a stir and raises important questions that challenge fundamental democratic values: What are the consequences of new technological innovations for current democratic systems? And how can a democratic society, which is interested in promoting democratic principles rather than dismantling them, deal with them?

Particular attention will be paid to the role of schools in dealing with these developments. How are AI applications used in today’s schools? What facets of this development does civic education need to address? And to what extent is this relevant from a democratic perspective? Our contributions are intended to stimulate reflection and discussion.

Download (PDF) (German)
Order POLIS No. 14

Vote lost – is the higher budget of the opposing side the reason?

Written by Mireille Braun on . Posted in Current news, Media releases, Unkategorisiert.

Those who spend a lot of money on a referendum campaign are noticed more. However, if we take a closer look at the subjectively perceived intensity of a campaign for yes or no voters, a distortion becomes apparent: the campaign budget of the opposing side is overestimated. Results from a research project conducted by the Centre for Democracy Studies Aarau in collaboration with Année Politique Suisse show how this comes about.

Before referendums, posters and advertisements attempt to convince Swiss citizens to vote yes or no on the proposals. But how do citizens perceive the strength and thus the effectiveness of a referendum campaign on a particular issue? And does this subjective assessment correspond to the objectively measurable advertising expenditure? This is being investigated in an evaluation as part of the research project «Direct Democracy Switzerland in the 21st Century (DDS21)» (see box).

Budget creates effective campaigns

When citizens are asked how effective referendum campaigns are, their assessment corresponds quite closely with the measurable criteria of «advertising expenditure» and «advertisement volume». The authors of the evaluation note: «The assessment of the intensity of the campaigns shortly before the referendums in March and June corresponds to the measurable actual intensity. In both cases, respondents rate the advertising campaigns with the largest budgets and the highest volume of advertisements (13th AHV pension and Electricity Act) as the most intense.»

If you think your opponent has more money

However, if we differentiate between the perceptions of the yes and no camps, a more interesting effect emerges: the overestimation of the opposing side. When citizens are asked whether they believe one side was promoted more strongly than the other, the objective metrics do not correspond as well with subjective perceptions. Those who accepted a proposal generally estimated that the ‘no’ camp had run a more intensive campaign – and vice versa. Their own voting decision thus influenced their perception of how effective the opposing side’s campaign was.

One possible explanation for this effect could be that, from a psychological perspective, the different wording of the content resulted in a different assessment (framing bias). Interestingly, a similar effect occurs regardless of whether a camp wins or loses a vote.

Victim or outsider?

If a person votes yes and the proposal is rejected, respondents attributed this to the perceived financial superiority of the opposing camp. Seeing oneself as a «victim» of the higher budget of the opposing side can be a way of reducing the «stress» of a referendum defeat.

Fig. 1: How is the intensity of political advertising assessed by those voting yes and no on referendum 13 on the 13th AHV pension?

If the proposal is accepted, an outsider effect tends to kick in: even then, supporters (wrongly) assume that the opposing camp had more money at its disposal than their own. Despite the (supposed) campaign superiority of the opposing side, their own vote ultimately prevailed. The satisfaction that this brings is also stress-reducing in terms of «coping».

The authors of the evaluation summarise: «Even though it seems obvious that the intensity of referendum campaigns is important for the outcome of direct democratic decisions, we know surprisingly little about the effect of political advertising on individuals. Our findings suggest that citizens have a good sense of the intensity of political campaigns in general, but that this sense is misleading when it comes to distinguishing between the advertising power of the respective yes and no camps.»

The project «Direct Democracy Switzerland in the 21st Century (DDS21)»

Since 2023, the research project Direct Democracy Switzerland in the 21st Century (DDS21), funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), has been investigating the reasons for Swiss citizens’ participation and voting decisions after each federal referendum. Led by the Centre for Democracy Studies Aarau (CDA), which is affiliated with the University of Zurich, DDS21 brings together members of Switzerland’s eight university political science institutes and the Liechtenstein Institute.

The data used in this article comes from surveys conducted after the votes on 3 March 2024 and 9 June 2024, in which more than 1,000 people were asked about their perceptions of the intensity of the voting campaigns for the five proposals: 13th AHV pension, pension initiative, premium relief initiative, electricity law, cost brake initiative, stop compulsory vaccination. Advertising expenditure and the number of advertisements per initiative were compared with the estimated intensity of the campaign.

Further resources

Blogbeitrag auf der Plattform DeFacto:
German, French, Italian
Project website: https://www.dds21.uzh.ch/de.html

Questions

Prof. Dr. Marc Bühlmann, Director Année Politique Suisse
marc.buehlmann@unibe.ch, 079 354 88 79

Prof. Dr. Isabelle Stadelmann-Steffen, Institut für Politikwissenschaft Bern
isabelle.stadelmann@unibe.ch, 031 684 83 55

Prof. Dr. Daniel Kübler, Center for Democracy Studies Aarau
daniel.kuebler@zda.uzh.ch, 078 815 67 60

About the CDA

The Centre for Democracy Studies Aarau is a scientific research centre supported by the University of Zurich, the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland, the Canton of Aargau and the City of Aarau. It conducts basic research and addresses current issues relating to democracy – regionally, in Switzerland and worldwide. www.zdaarau.ch

About Année Politique Suisse

Since 1965, Année Politique Suisse (APS) has been providing a precise, factual and concise chronicle of developments in Swiss politics and society. We follow political issues from their inception to any referendums and their implementation, report on important social controversies, summarise practical studies and reports, track landmark court rulings, developments in the party landscape and much more. A central concern for us is to embed current events in their historical context, because current events are often merely highlights of lengthy, often repetitive processes that can be traced with APS and placed in a larger context.

APS also provides a wealth of data on Swiss politics (e.g. swissvotes.ch) and participates in various political science research projects focusing on Switzerland. www.anneepolitique.swiss

Thank you very much!

Written by Mireille Braun on . Posted in Unkategorisiert.

We would like to thank you sincerely for your interest and for attending the 2026 Aarau Democracy Days. Both the academic conference and the evening event were fully booked. We are already looking forward to the next edition in 2027.