Sortition and Direct Democracy – Mitigating Populist Rhetoric? Insights from a Case Study in Switzerland

Mitigating negative consequences of populism to provide for a balanced communication within the public sphere is one of the most relevant challenges in research right now. In this context, direct democracy has been criticized to be especially prone to populist demand and supply because referendums or initiatives often offer potential grip to voice populist rhetoric. Therefore, it is important to assess empirically if, and in which ways democratic innovations like mini-publics mitigate direct democracy's susceptibility towards thin conceptions of populism. We investigate the potential of democratic innovations to partly remedy populist views and discourse in the context of Swiss direct democracy. Specifically, we ask if a mini-public of 20-30 randomly selected citizens can provide meaningful information to voters who are called to vote in an upcoming referendum in a way that makes these voters more resistant to populist influence. Concretely, randomly selected citizens meet for four days in a Swiss municipality to deliberate about the key facts, pros, and cons regarding a national popular vote that takes place in early 2020. A one-page statement containing a summary of the deliberation is then sent out to voters within that municipality. The process borrows heavily from the Citizens’ Initiative Review (CIR) originally developed in Oregon and meanwhile conducted in four other US states (John Gastil et al. 2010). Testing it in Switzerland serves to study its impact and feasibility within the European context. The findings will show whether panelists as well as voters reconsider their political convictions on concrete political issues and, in particular, if populist attitudes can be mitigated with the help of this process. In our presentation we will show preliminary evidence gained in a pilot conducted with students from the University of Geneva. The purpose of this pilot is to get a grasp of the overall viability of the research design, i.e. reliability and validity of the measures concerning populism. We also put a spotlight on facilitative trust in mini-publics, deliberation within, and civic virtues. Overall, the findings shall allow us to gain a closer look at how populist dynamics govern the internal processes of mini-publics as well as their external relationship towards the broader public in direct democracy.