2014 Lucerne - Democracy and Globalization

The 1st Swiss Summer School Democracy Studies took place in June 2014 at the University of Lucerne. It focussed on Democracy and Globalization which is of great importance in research and society since globalization creates both challenges and opportunities for democracy today.

Analytical and normative concepts for tracing and evaluating processes of (de-)democratization in the national, supranational and transnational realm were addressed in four two-day workshops which were structured in lectures with international keynote speakers, and PhD project presentations and discussions chaired by two experts:

• Democratic Inclusion in a Transnationalizing World (Robert Goodin, ANU, Australia / Joachim Blatter, U of Lucerne)
• Varieties of Democracy Beyond the State (Michael Zürn, WZB, Germany / Sandra Lavenex, U of Lucerne)
• Democratization and its Enemies (Philippe Schmitter, EUI, Italy / Daniel Bochsler + Saskia Ruth, U of Zurich)
• Democratic Deliberation and Negotiation (Jane Mansbridge, Harvard U, USA / André Bächtiger, U of Lucerne)

Various social activities, such as a group dinner with the experts or a sightseeing Lucerne tour, complemented the academic program. The full program is available here.

A total of 42 doctoral students applied to attend the Summer School. Thirty-four doctoral students were admitted to join the event, of which 23 from 7 countries (CH, BEL, GER, HUN, ITA, UK, USA) took the opportunity.

An online survey was conducted to evaluate the 1st Swiss Summer School Democracy Studies. All 23 participants were invited to participate in the survey, of which 19 completed the standardized questionnaire. All answers to this survey were anonymized. The results of this poll are presented here in detail.