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Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a powerful tool thanks to technological advances, access to large amounts of data, machine learning and increased computing power. The release of ChatGPT at the end of 2022 was a new breakthrough in AI. It demonstrated the vast range of possibilities involved in adapting general-purpose AI to a wide array of tasks and in getting generative AI to generate synthetic content based on prompts entered by the user. In a just a few years' time, a very large share ...

Referenden rücken die Bürger wieder in den Mittelpunkt des politischen Geschehens. Als Instrumente der direkten Demokratie können sie die Beteiligung der Bürger fördern und wichtige Entscheidungen legitimieren. In den letzten Jahrzehnten hat die Zahl der Referen­den in Europa und in anderen Teilen der Welt zugenommen und sie sind zu einem wiederkehrenden Merkmal der europäischen Politik geworden. Trotz des gestiegenen Interesses in einigen Mitgliedstaaten sind Referenden jedoch nach wie vor umstritten ...

A panel at the 2020 ESPAS conference discussed the future of democracy in the light of the coronavirus pandemic. Participatory democracy was seen as a potential remedy for polarisation, while digitisation brings a need for careful governance. Misinformation and disinformation needs to be addressed through education. A poll of attendees identified tax equity as a key innovation for successfully rebuilding democracy.

This study was commissioned and supervised by the European Parliament's Policy Department for Citizens' Rights and Constitutional Affairs at the request of the AFCO Committee. European countries have started exploring e-participation as a way to regain citizens' trust and revitalise European democracy by developing a more responsive, transparent and participatory decision-making process. The main objectives of the study are to identify best practices in EU Member States, describe e-participation ...

Referendums give citizens a direct say over matters which would otherwise be decided by elected (or non-elected) representatives. Thus, as instruments of direct democracy, they may foster citizens' involvement and legitimise important decisions. In fact, referendums have been on the rise in Europe and elsewhere in the world in recent decades, and have become a recurrent feature of European politics. Since 1972, Europe has seen 54 referendums on EU matters, concerning membership, treaty ratification ...

Ahead of Switzerland's general election on 18 October 2015, the European refugee crisis has reinvigorated the continuing debate in Switzerland on immigration and the future of the EU bilateral agreements. The 2014 referendum 'against mass immigration' is jeopardising the EU Swiss Free Movement of Persons Agreement (FMPA), and immigration and EU relations will remain leitmotifs in the new term.