Programme

The Summer School on Frontiers of Democratic Innovations features an intensive programme of lectures, seminars, and young scholars' presentations. Five teaching days are scheduled, each of which focuses on a particular theme related to the overall topic of the Summer School:

Participation and Development
Democracy in Digital Public Spheres: On algorithms, dissonance and disruption
Innovations in Direct Democracy
Deliberation and Democracy: A (surprisingly) contestable relationship
Participatory Budgeting in Asia

Teaching days consist in two parts:

• The lecture and seminar sessions are each organized and led by two experts: one internationally renowned scholar who gives a lecture and one expert from the University of Zurich who serves as a chair. The lecture is followed by both, seminars and discussions in which young scholars can be assigned the role of discussant.
• In the workshop sessions participants are given the opportunity to present their research on the basis of a paper submitted in advance. They receive detailed feedback from the international expert, the workshop chair and an assigned peer.

Summer School participants apply for the workshop in which they want to present their paper.

Participants in the Summer School receive a certificate provided they:

• attended all lectures, seminars and workshops,
• submitted a paper of 15-20 pages in due time (e.g. research or conference paper, publication draft etc.), which includes aspects of the research process they would like to discuss,
• presented their research in one of the five workshops (max. 10-15 minutes),
• discussed one peer's research paper, and
• prepared the required readings.