The Tobacco Prevention Fund (TPF) was set up particularly to finance measures to stop people from starting to smoke, make it easier to give up smoking and protect non-smokers against passive smoking. Projects supported by the Tobacco Prevention Fund (TPF) have to satisfy high quality requirements and make a contribution to the national tobacco control strategy, namely the National Programme Tobacco 2008-2016. The regulation requires an evaluation of the effectiveness of the financed measures. Up to now these evaluation reports delivered project-related information only and served as a basis for decision-making on the project level. The TPF aims at a management of the general funding-decisions above the project level based on evaluations. Goal of the present study is to assess the quality of the existing commissioned evaluation reports in a meta-evaluation. Based on the results of these assessments the study develops strategies that allow the TPF to improve its evaluation practice.
(English summary below) Zusammenfassung Im Auftrag der Gemeindeammänner-Vereinigung des Kantons Aargau und des kantonalen Departements Volkswirtschaft und Inneres soll in dieser Studie aufgezeigt werden, wie und warum sich die Milizorganisation in den Aargauer Gemeinden über die letzten 40 Jahre verändert hat. Der Fokus liegt dabei auf der Auswahl an Kandidierenden bei kommunalen Exekutivwahlen, der Amtsdauer und der Fluktuation in Exekutivgremien sowie auf den individuellen Gründen für frühzeitige Rücktritte. Weiter sollen Faktoren identifiziert werden, welche die Auswahl und Amtsdauer von Gemeindeexekutiven positiv beeinflussen. Drei Module sind für die Durchführung der Studie vorgesehen: (1) Erhebung und Analyse der Entwicklung der Exekutivgremien in Aargauer Gemeinden, (2) Analyse individueller Rücktrittsgründe aus der Gemeindeexekutive auf der Basis einer bestehenden Befragung, und (3) Synthese und Diskussion verschiedener Modelle zur Reform der Milizorganisation. Präsentation erster Zwischenresultate an den 6. Aarauer Demokratietagen vom 27./28. März 2014. Schlussbericht veröffentlicht am 17. Dezember 2014, öffentliche Podiumsdiskussion am 26. Februar 2015 (siehe externen Link). --- Summary This study – commissioned by the Association of Municipal Presidents of the canton of Argovia and the cantonal Department of Economics and Internal Affairs – explores how and why the militia (lay people) organisation of municipal executives in the canton of Argovia has changed over the last 40 years. Of particular interest is the choice of candidates at executive elections, the tenure of office and the fluctuation in executive bodies as well as the individual reasons for early resignations. Moreover we examine the factors positively affecting the choice and the tenure of office. Three modules are planned for conducting the study: (1) data collection and analysis with regard to the development of executive municipal bodies in Argovia, (2) analysis of the individual reasons for early resignations based on an existing survey, and (3) synthesis and discussion of different models for reforming the lay people organisation. Presentation of first results at the 6th Aarau Democracy Days on March 27./28. 2014. Final report published on December 17, 2014, public discussion event on February 26, 2015 (see external link).
Since 2008, the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) implements together with the Federal Office of Sport and in coordination with the cantons and Health Promotion Switzerland the National Programme on Nutrition and Physical Activity. This programme aims to promote a healthy lifestyle, e.g. balanced diet and regular physical activities. The Federal Council has extended the programme in 2012 till 2016. Within this programme, the FOPH has launched the initiative actionsanté. This initiative aims to motivate the economy to take voluntary actions to support the individual and the community in choosing a lifestyle that is more active and food that is more balanced. The initiative actionsanté aims that companies take actions in the following for areas in order to promote a healthy lifestyle: A) consumer information, B) marketing/promotion, C) food composition and food supply, and D) promoting an environment that supports physical activity. The FOPH has established partnerships with various private enterprises in these areas. The present study commissioned by the FOPH analyses the possibility to further develop the concept of the initiative actionsanté. On the one hand, the study presents the current international practice and the literature dealing with similar initiatives of other West European countries and international organisations. On the other hand, the stakeholders of the initiative actionsanté were involved in the analysis through guidelines based interviews or a workshop. In this way, the study takes into account the international developments and the stakeholders’ experiences and visions in order to formulate recommendations for the future refinement of the initiative actionsanté.
All around the world cities are growing and becoming “metropolitan areas”, vast urban regions that spread beyond the confines of cities, regions, and even nation-states. In the era of globalization, mega- and meta-cities are gaining in importance, just as political decision-making is increasingly shifting to the local and urban-regional level. The growing mismatch between urban sprawl and institutional organization has led to the emergence, in metropolitan areas, of new, complex governance structures beyond the state. These are challenging traditional political institutions and the democratic quality of policy-making in these areas. How are the citizens, and local voters, able to deal with these complex structures, the shifting or fading away of territorial borders, and the emergence of new political levels? This project will explore this topic by studying eight European metropolitan areas with different types of governance structures: London, Birmingham, Paris, Lyon, Berlin, Stuttgart, Bern, and Zurich. In particular, the project will focus on the following questions: • How do citizens perceive the political system of their metropolitan area? • How are political behavior, attitudes, and perceptions of the legitimacy of the governance structures shaped by media systems and content? • How do the different types of governance, as well as media reporting about them, influence citizens’ political attitudes, interest, and participation? This project builds on two projects on the legitimacy of governance structures in metropolitan areas completed in Phases I and II of the NCCR Democracy. The aim of the current project is to use these results to examine the link between institutional design, media markets and content, and citizens’ political attitudes and behavior.
SNF Grant 100017_146104; CHF 246’958.-, main applicant with Bruno Wüest, Thomas Kurer and Matthias Enggist This project was concerned with the political reactions of European citizens to the financial disaster and the harsh economic consequences that hit them from the late 2008 onwards. Starting from a political economy perspective, we asked how European citizens reacted towards the crisis and what implications these individual reactions had for the variation of protests at the societal level. By integrating previously separate research on social movements, economic voting and social risks, we offered an encompassing analytical argument to explain the variation in protest reactions across Europe.
Die politische Bildung der Schweizer Jugend ist lückenhaft. Dies gilt insbesondere für jene politischen Prozesse und komplexen Zusammenhänge, die wenig mediale Präsenz erhalten und nicht dem Muster personalisierbarer Mediendarstellung entsprechen. Hierzu gehört mit dem Gesetzgebungsverfahren ein zentrales Element der Schweizer Demokratie, von dem zumeist nur die öffentlich wirksamen Bereiche wahrgenommen werden: Teile der parlamentarischen Beratung und allfällige Abstimmungsdebatten, falls das Referendum ergriffen wurde. Seit Jahren wird von der Politik der schlechte Stand politischer Bildung bei Jugendlichen beklagt. Die Schulen sind ihrerseits interessiert an guten Produkten, um politische Bildung nachhaltig zu gestalten. Mit dem angeleiteten Planspiel „Play Swiss Lex“ [Arbeitstitel] möchten das Zentrum für Demokratie Aarau und die Etharion GmbH ein Produkt entwickeln, das auf dieses Bedürfnis ideal zugeschnitten ist. Das Produkt baut auf den Erfahrungen mit dem erfolgreichen Planspiel „Europäische-Politik-Simulation EPS“ auf, welches EuroSoc in Deutschland seit Jahren mit grossem Zuspruch verkauft. Ein angeleitetes Planspiel zur schweizerischen Gesetzgebung hat gegenüber anderen herkömmlichen Lehrmitteln und Planspiel-Angeboten den Vorteil, anhand eines konkreten, in der wirklichen Politik vorgefallenen Beispiels die Abläufe und Unwägbarkeiten politischer Entscheidungsprozesse aufzuzeigen. Es entspricht einem nachweislichen Bedürfnis und stösst bereits in der Konzeptphase auf ein grosses Interesse.
In May 2013 the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health (SFOPH) commissioned the Department of Political Science (IPZ) to elaborate the “Study of the Swiss Addiction Policy: Advocacy Coalitions in the Swiss Alcohol, Tobacco and Drug Policy”. The main objective of the study is the elaboration of a systematic overview of the field of addiction policy (illegal drugs, alcohol, tobacco and non-substance-related addictions). Therefore, the set of relevant actors, their policy beliefs as well as the political dynamics in the field of addiction policy will be analyzed in a systematic manner. For this purpose, the study is divided into three parts. First, the most relevant decision-making processes on the federal level in the last ten years will be the object of a qualitative analysis. Second, a survey with carefully chosen informants (experts) will give an overview of the actors in the Swiss addiction policy as well as their positions. Third, in order to shed light on the situation on the cantonal level, a standardized survey with all 26 cantonal delegates for addiction will be conducted.
The program „QuAKTIV. Nature-oriented, child-and youth-friendly quarters and settlement development in the canton of Aargau“ is developed and implemented under the direction of the FHNW School of Social Work together with the cantonal agencies in the canton of Aargau. The program aims at intensifying participatory, ecological and educational goals in the implementation of child- and youth-friendly planning projects and in the design of natural experience spaces. This will be achieved through the participative implementation of concrete projects in three pilot communities in the canton of Aargau. Existing methods and instruments will be adapted to the preexisting demands and, if required, new tools will be developed, tested and evaluated in these pilot communities. The acquired experiences serve as flagship projects (good practice) and will be made available to a broad professional public. Commissioned by the Mercator Foundation Switzerland, the Department of Political Science evaluates the democratic content of alternative participatory forms used in the three pilot communities. This evaluation addresses several aspects such as inclusion, democratic quality and socialization. For this purpose, the study analyses program documents and conducts semi-structured interviews with both participants and decision-makers in the communities. In this way, the study takes into account different experiences and opinions of alternative participatory forms in order to formulate relevant recommendations for decision-makers for similar use of alternative participatory forms in other communities or cantons.
This project analyzes policy responses, crisis politics, and distributive outcomes of national crisis management towards the global financial crisis and the euro crisis.
This Sinergia project addresses the questions of how policy evaluation in Switzerland is influenced by the Swiss political system, and how policy evaluation in turn influences the Swiss political system. This topic is of great theoretical significance for political science and public administration theory, because until now, research on the relationship between specific attributes of political systems and the practice and institutionalization of policy evaluation is missing. It is also of great practical relevance, because considerable resources are invested in evaluations each year, and we need to know how to best make use of this investment and how to avoid negative consequences. To link attributes of policy evaluation with policy, polity, and politics in a comprehensive approach is considered as an innovative and fruitful research track. The Swiss political system is ideal for studying this question: Firstly, it has a high degree of internal heterogeneity that allows for within-system comparisons. Secondly, two attributes of the Swiss political system are of special relevance for policy evaluation, namely: federalism and direct democracy. Some scholars claim that federalism increases the demand for evaluations, others argue the opposite, and the same is true for direct democracy. A similar lack of consensus exists with respect to the influence of policy evaluation on the Swiss political system. In addition, a systematic analysis of interdependencies between attributes of the Swiss political system and evaluation is lacking, especially at the subnational level. Therefore, the Sinergia project analyzes these relationships through comparisons at the cantonal level, and by using longitudinal and cross-sectional, inter-policy comparison. In detail, the following four subprojects constitute the Sinergia project: Subproject 1, led by A. Balthasar (University of Lucerne) and F. Varone (University of Geneva), asks about the relevance of policy sector and administrative unit attributes for policy evaluation by comparing twenty cases (1990-2011) in education, health, energy and public transport policy from four cantons and the Federation. Subproject 2, directed by K. Horber-Papazian and L. Mader (both IDHEAP Lausanne), analyzes the reasons for and the consequences of evaluation clauses in federal and cantonal laws. The study consists of a comprehensive survey and analysis of current (2011) obligations to conduct evaluations in all federal and cantonal laws. Subproject 3, managed by F. Sager and V. Friedrich (both University of Berne), concentrates on direct democracy and asks about the use of evaluations in direct democratic campaigns. The focus is on education and health policy at the cantonal and federal level. An extensive survey of all votes at cantonal and federal levels from 1990 to 2011 will be conducted, as well as eight case studies of selected campaigns. Subproject 4, run by T. Widmer and K. Frey (both University of Zurich), analyses the relationships between policy evaluation and parliaments at the cantonal and federal levels by conducting a survey among the about 3’000 members of parliament at both levels. Multi-level data analyses will be conducted, as will a comparison of 27 cases (3 policies from 3 policy sectors (education, health and energy policy) in 3 cantons).