Research directions
Multilevel governance
The policy studies carried out within the lab are particularly sensitive to the reorganization of decision-making power, in relation to the 'denationalization' of governance. Public policies are analyzed at different levels, ranging from the local to the global levels. For example, research in the LAGAPE deals with subjects such as urban governance, federal systems, European integration and the impact of globalization and Europeanization on national policy. Comparative studies across governmental levels and the scrutiny of their interactions, such as in the cases of metropoles and of cross-border cooperation, are becoming increasingly necessary to capture contemporary policy-making.
Market and risk regulation
Around the world, public utilities and economic policies have been profoundly transformed since the 1990s. After a wave of liberalization, we are now in a phase of regulation - or re-regulation. A new kind of institutions, independent agencies, have emerged and diffused worldwide, triggering a number of questions, namely about their autonomy from the political power and from regulatees. The LAGAPE engages with these questions, with a particular interest for the regulation of utilities as well as of social and environmental risks. This research is carried out in a comparative perspective, covering the European and transnational dimensions, and including developing countries.
Transformations of the Swiss political system
The stability of the Swiss political system and its specific features, such as direct democracy or the 'milice' system, are being questioned by recent developments, such as European integration, partisan polarization, the professionalization of political careers, or the growing exposure to the media. The LAGAPE addresses the impact of these transformations on decision-making processes, generally based on comparative and historical analyses.
Works carried out within the LAGAPE also contribute to the renewal of research on elites, in particular in Switzerland. In collaboration with the Observatory of Swiss Elites (OBELIS), different projects address the recent transformations of the profile and the organizational modes of economic, political, administrative and academic elites, who undergo significant changes regarding their education, professional and political careers.
Administrative actors
Public administration, whether communal, cantonal of federal, is facing multiple reforms, such as the introduction of new public management. Often, these managerial reforms entail human and organizational consequences, since they influence how administrations are organized and work for service delivery. Against this backdrop, the LAGAPE aims at reinvigorating Swiss research on public administration, with projects on the role of the bureaucracy in decision-making processes, as well as on the impact of managerial reforms on civil servants' values and motivation, within Swiss as well as in international public administrations.
Governance and democracy
The transformation of modes of governance carries important challenges for the functioning of democratic political systems. A critical reflection is being developed within the LAGAPE, to assess the implications for accountability and democratic control brought by the multiplication of informal spheres of influence that tend to escape formal channels of power and oversight by public authorities. Likewise, the growing influence of interest groups and the technocratization of the policy-making process, i.e. the growing impact of non-elected actors, impact on the arenas and outcomes of political deliberation and participation.
Public policies and sectoral studies
The LAGAPE is also dedicated to the comparative analysis of sectorial public policies, with a particular expertise on health, fiscal, financial, housing, energy, telecommunications, food, research and education policies.
