Zurich vs. L.A.: Which is the Most Democratic City?

Zurich and Los Angeles share an intriguing political distinction: each is the largest city in the world’s two greatest centers of direct democracy. California and Switzerland use initiatives and referenda more often than any place in the world, and have for more than a century, when Los Angeles followed Zurich’s model and instituted the first municipal system of direct democracy in the U.S. But direct democracy has been challenged in both places, particularly when it seems that financing, populism, misinformation, or sheer complexity — rather than well-informed voters turning out in strong numbers — make or break initiatives. How democratic are Zurich and Los Angeles, what challenges does each city face, and how might they improve their political processes? Zócalo Public Square and the Swiss Confederation invited journalist Joe Mathews, Swiss National Parliament member Andreas Gross, Swiss journalist Bruno Kaufmann, attorney George Kieffer, who led the 1999 Los Angeles Charter revision, and California Common Cause Executive Director Kathay Feng to consider which is the most democratic city, and what each could learn from the other. The event was co-sponsored by the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West, presented in collaboration with the Consulate General of Switzerland in Los Angeles, and made possible by a generous grant from the John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation.