Publication Type: Session Presentation
Abstract: Presents teaching strategies for incorporating a new globally oriented Swiss literature influenced by a culture that is highly anglicized. Includes a critical discourse on how Swiss cultures and internal linguistic barriers are increasingly bridged by the use of the English language. Intended for in the college and high school classroom with hand-outs of modules and project suggestions.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The way policy is coordinated across jurisdictional boundaries is an important to understand the structure and functioning of multilevel politics both within and beyond the nation state. The extent to which lower-level governments (provinces, communities, member states) coordinate their interests and policies among each other determines their capacity to speak with one voice vis-à-vis the central level. The degree of horizontal policy coordination varies between multilevel systems as much as the repertoire of modes of policy coordination available to and used by lower-level governments, ranging from mere policy-emulation by individual governments up to legally binding and enforceable interstate treaties. In order to account for these variations in intergovernmental policy coordination, this paper develops a theoretical framework that links the literature on comparative federalism with neo-institutional approaches on types of democracy.

We argue that the representation of lower-level government interests at the central level does not necessarily depend on the way functional and territorial interests are balanced in the second chamber of the central legislature. Rather, it is the type and degree of power-sharing inherent in executive-legislative relations of lower-level governments which determines the extent to which they can individually and collectively represent their interests vis-à-vis the central level. The effective representation of territorial interests, in turn, is a necessary albeit not sufficient condition for a broad repertoire of modes of policy coordination. We demonstrate the validity of our argument comparing four multilevel systems, the US, Canada, Switzerland, and the European Union (EU). The comparison reveals that the EU shares more similarities with federal polities than it is often assumed in the literature. It is the US that diverges from the overall pattern most.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This paper describes a specific coding scheme for measuring health-related media content on the level of single assertions and in relative complexity. The basic idea is to code messages into an if-part (nutrition, physical activity, body weight) and a then-part (weight and health). Detailed codeplans can then be used to determine the specific nature of the if- and then-parts of an assertion. An exemplary analysis of Swiss-German newspaper and magazine messages between March 1, 2003 and June 30, 2005 provides evidence of recommendations that are more or less in line with official suggestions for a healthy diet: Newspapers and magazines tell their readers to eat vegetables, fruit, grain and cereal products, dairy products, and to care about vitamin and minerals intake. They also advise to stay away from tobacco, alcohol, fast food, sugar, and animal fat. Results are interpreted as evidence for the existence of a rather good source for diet information in print media, which is, however, very likely to be counteracted by other media content.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The legalization and subsequent regulation of assisted suicide remains highly controversial in the United States, Switzerland, and around the world. Although Oregon and Swiss physicians are permitted to assist the terminally ill in taking their own lives, the Swiss model of assisted suicide differs in two significant ways: the patient need not be terminally ill and the person providing assistance does not have to be a physician.

In the United States, opponents have long maintained that PAS is inconsistent with a physician’s historical role as healer; would expose vulnerable populations to harm; would encourage patients travel to the state to die; and if legalized, would eventually lead to euthanasia. While many of these concerns have yet to be realized in Oregon, they appear to be occurring in Switzerland. Since medical journals in the United States have begun to explore the question of whether physician-assisted suicide should be limited to only physicians (i.e., the Swiss model), coupled with the fact that most research on the Swiss model stems from the popular press, empirical research on assisted death in Switzerland and the role of non-physicians is very timely.

This paper represents the first phase of a multi-part study focusing on the Swiss model of assisted suicide and the problems associated with its regulation. Subsequent research will continue to focus on the Swiss model and its potential to inform U.S. policy on both the legalization of PAS and the emerging debate concerning the role of both physicians and non-physicians in assisted suicide.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Scientifically, little was known about white-collar crime in Switzerland or concern about white-collar crime and even less about how concerned bank employees are about this criminality. This article based on a small opinion survey of Swiss bank employees tried to explore perceptions of seriousness and concern about white-collar crime among these people who, in their position, might have to face this issue regularly. Results obtained demonstrated a greater sensitivity with respect to white-collar crime and especially towards crimes perpetrated by corporations. Past assumptions on the public’s indifference towards white-collar crime seem not to be confirmed in this study. Indeed, Swiss bank employees did qualify white-collar offences as very serious acts. However, difference was found in the perception of punitiveness: respondents would still prefer a more severe sentence for ordinary crimes rather than for white-collar crimes.