The programme organised by the Albert Hirschman Centre during Democracy Week comprised events on different levels of democratic governance, including the local one. On the latter, students and researchers of the Geneva Graduate Institute were welcomed at Geneva's Hotel de Ville, which hosts the political institutions of the Republic and Canton of Geneva, on 8 October.

The Geneva Chancellery of State specially organised this visit for the Graduate Institute’s and International Geneva communities. Participants had the unique opportunity to walk in the Salle du Conseil d'Etat, where the seven members of Geneva's government and the Chancellor of State meet every Wednesday and which is hardly ever open to the public. The Salle de l'Alabama was also specially opened for the Graduate Institute's group: this historical room has been used until today for many international negotiations carried out in Geneva as a neutral territory. After the signature of the first Geneva Convention in 1864, it hosted the Arbitral Tribunal, which was provided for by the Washington Treaty in 1871 to settle the dispute on the warship "Alabama" between the United States and Great Britain. 

Following the visit, participants engaged in an interactive workshop on Swiss political institutions, by Marceau Schroeter, Political Rights Attaché at the Chancellery of State and author of book Au Cœur de la Démocratie Suisse (Slatkine, 2022). The session sparked a thought-provoking conversation on the unique aspects of Swiss governance, providing valuable insights into the nation's semi-direct democracy system.