Dear Clippo,
Thank you for the welcome and explanation of certain represented factions within this Forum. My personal opinion is that a diverse variety of ontology is most often a useful happenstance when seeking the weaknesses of a particular idea (as I am within this thread).
To answer your question concerning direct democracy would require a good deal of research using my ontology on several different Cantons (thus a comparative methodology). I have just returned from living in Geneva (for only 6 months, interning and on mission with the UN), but unfortunately did not have the opportunity to experience their distinct style of democracy or study it for that matter.
However, in my experience, a quanititative frequency analysis of government texts from a canton using endemic problems as explicit search words will allow you to see which problem is currently the most focused on, and inversely, which is least. Furthermore, you may also wish to conduct a relational (proximity) analysis of the endemic problems to understand how their are linked within the Canton’s unique circumstances.
In the international arena of democratisation (thus multinational, transnational, and international NGO bodies) the current major focus is on the rule of law (a fundamental parameter of the democratic element), representation, accountability, transparency, corruption, campaigning methods, and political information (namely access to and accountable data). Equality and constitutional issues are rather more “medium” to “small” concerns; whilst the selection of rulers and long-term goals in politics are virtually ignored. Perhaps this general pattern will be reflected in Swiss Cantons, but I cannot say that for sure. Let me know if you try this analysis, or I will let you know if I get into it (or a grad student of mine does).
Cheers,
Jean-Paul
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