This expert workshop is organised by the Albert Hirschman Centre for Democracy and the Geneva State Chancellery in the context of Democracy Week. It will focus on communication processes, challenges, and practices during the campaigns leading up to elections and referenda.
Its goal is to analyse how actors from the political, institutional and media realms operate and interact, from both a Swiss and an American perspective. Participants will address two central questions: What is the timing and what are the means (financial, technological, etc.) of communication activities before elections? What have made them evolve, and within which legal frameworks?
Participants include the persons in charge of the organisation of elections and referendums, as well as the promotion of political rights, in several Swiss cantons. They will be joined by Rodney Benson, professor at New York University and a communication specialist, and by researchers and experts who will analyse the issues from different and comparative perspectives.
The discussion will follow two main threads:
- Changes in communication culture: Who communicates and how do we communicate ahead of votes and elections in Switzerland, the United States, and elsewhere? How do technology and AI influence this communication?
- The means of communication campaigns: How are democratic rules on the means of communication defined? How have definitions of what is acceptable evolved, particularly with regard to the use of state resources?
The workshop is designed to be participatory, with the aim of encouraging a rich exchange of experience between participants from a variety of institutions and professional fields. In this way, we hope to contribute to reflections on the various ways of "cultivating democracy" - the theme of the 2024 edition of Democracy Week.
This is a closed workshop for researchers, experts, and civil servants. For information, please contact democracy@graduateinstitute.ch
A public event on related issues, also featuring Professor Rodney Benson, will take place on Thursday 10 October from 18:30 to 20:00.
This event is organised by the Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in the context of the Geneva Democracy Week.