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Hans-Peter Schaub (Universität Bern) und Philippe Rochat (Liechtenstein-Institut) untersuchen, inwieweit die politische Teilnahme in unterschiedlichen institutionellen Kontexten mit unterschiedlichen Mustern sozialer Ungleichheit einher geht. Die Analyse zeigt, dass es zwar deutliche Unterschiede zwischen den untersuchten Kontexten (Urnenabstimmung, Landsgemeinde und Gemeindeversammlung) gibt, dass jedoch keiner durchwegs inklusiver oder exklusiver ist als die anderen.

Ein Beitrag von Thomas Milic und Christian Frommelt im soeben erschienenen Jahrbuch für direkte Demokratie 2023/2024 zeigt, dass die direkte Demokratie in Liechtenstein – entgegen verbreiteten Annahmen – Populismus nicht oder kaum je fördert.

At the annual Ambassadors’ Information Day, which took place on November 14 at TaK in Schaan, Andreas Brunhart from the Liechtenstein Institute gave a short presentation entitled «Characteristics of Liechtenstein’s Economy: Small, Open, Volatile, Robust, Prosperous».

Geopolitical fragmentation and heightened economic uncertainty heavily weigh on international trade and also Liechtenstein’s economy is negatively affected

Die Veranstaltungsreihe «Zeitenwende für Liechtenstein: Wirtschafts- und aussenpolitische Herausforderungen in der aktuellen Weltlage» widmet sich zentralen Fragen der aktuellen Wirtschafts- und Aussenpolitik Liechtensteins angesichts der aktuellen Umbrüche und der daraus folgenden volkswirtschaftlichen Unsicherheit. Die Auftaktveranstaltung dazu bildete die Sicht der Wirtschaft und Verwaltung auf diese Entwicklungen ab.

Die Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät der Universität Basel verleiht Johannes Lehmann den Titel zum Doctor rerum politicarum. Seine Dissertationsschrift trägt den Titel «Modern Workplaces: Three Essays on Digital Transformation and Employee Empowerment». Am 24. Oktober 2025 fand an der Universität Basel die Diplomfeier statt.

Vom 22. bis 25. Oktober 2025 fand im Haus Gutenberg in Balzers die vom Fachbereich Geschichte des Liechtenstein-Instituts organisierte Tagung «Historical Small States Studies: State of Research and Perspectives» statt. In dreizehn Sektionen hielten über zwanzig Referentinnen und Referenten aus fünfzehn Ländern Vorträge zum Themenbereich der historischen Kleinstaatenforschung.

Am 27. Oktober durfte das Liechtenstein-Institut hochrangige Gäste empfangen: Die Justizministerinnen und Justizminister Deutschlands, Liechtensteins, Luxemburgs, Österreichs und der Schweiz besuchten das Institut im Rahmen ihres Treffens in Liechtenstein.

For the eighth time, the Ministry of Presidential Affairs and Finance is providing an updated version of the brochure «Economic and Financial Data on Liechtenstein». It was compiled by the Liechtenstein Institute on behalf of the Ministry with data as at the end of June 2025.

On October 13, an information session on the topic of "The double Pukelsheim: double-proportional allocation procedure" was held as part of the Patriotic Union (VU) party board meeting at Clunia in Nendeln.

The members of the Liechtenstein Parliament have various instruments at their disposal to voice political concerns and exercise their control function vis-à-vis the government and administration. Four new articles by Philippe Rochat explain how these instruments work.

On September 12, 2025, the elective course "Politics in Liechtenstein and the surrounding area" visited the Liechtenstein Institute with teacher Marlies Kessler. After being welcomed by Institute Director Thomas Meier, the group was treated to a varied program.

60 young people from Liechtenstein and Switzerland took part in this year's 10th Youth Session in the parliament building. The focus was on the planned youth strategy for Liechtenstein. The young people drew up proposals that were then submitted to the government and parliament. Thomas Milic also took part in the event.

The legal scholar Prof. Dr. Benedikt Pirker joined the Research Area Law at the Liechtenstein Institute at the beginning of September 2025.

Global uncertainty continues to weigh on international trade and thus also on Liechtenstein’s economy. The value of the KonSens business cycle index improved markedly in the 2nd quarter of 2025, rising from −1.1 to −0.6, but remained negative.

In an interview with Tobias Soraperra from Wirtschaft Regional, Prof. Dr. Thomas Meier talks about his return to Liechtenstein and his role as Director of the Liechtenstein Institute. He explains and reflects on the importance of the Liechtenstein Institute for the country and places Liechtenstein's research landscape in an international context.

The handbook "Liechtenstein's Political System" provides a comprehensive overview of our country's political system - from the Prince, government and parliament to parties, media and civil society, international relations and the education system. A new series of articles in lie:zeit takes up some of the key topics from the handbook.

On the occasion of the visit of Prime Minister Brigitte Haas to President Karin Keller-Sutter, Radio SRF reported in various programs on the effects of the recently imposed US tariffs, which were the main topic of the meeting. The Liechtenstein Institute was also interviewed about this.

Andreas Brunhart and Martin Geiger published an article in the peer-reviewed Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics examining the sensitivity of goods export development to exchange rate fluctuations and related sectoral differences. Leveraging the abrupt termination of the minimum exchange rate floor of the Swiss Franc against the Euro in January 2015, the article shows that the resilience of the Swiss export industry to exchange rate shocks is largely due to the adaptability of certain sectors, particularly the chemical and pharmaceutical industry.

Am 16. April 1587 ereignete sich am Rheinübergang Bendern-Haag ein schweres Fährunglück, bei dem über 80 Personen aus Gams ertranken. Die Katastrophe fand eine ausführliche Darstellung in Johann Jakob Wicks zeitgenössischer «Wunderchronik», die weit über die knappen Angaben in anderen Chroniken hinausgeht – und ausserdem eine rare Abbildung enthält!

The results of a comprehensive online survey conducted by the Liechtenstein Institute on the 2025 parliamentary elections are now available. Over 1,300 voters who took part in the elections also took part in the survey. This allowed us to gain differentiated insights into the voting behavior, motives and information behavior of the Liechtenstein electorate.

In 1984, Liechtenstein’s men also granted women the right to vote. However, this alone did not bring about gender equality. Nevertheless, equal treatment in the political sphere marked the start of a major reform of marriage and family law. The article by Patricia Schiess, recently published in the Liechtensteinische Juristen-Zeitung LJZ, shows the interplay between legislation and case law from 1982 to the present day.

The Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences at the University of Bern has awarded Karin Frick a Doctor rerum socialum. Her dissertation, which she wrote under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Marc Bühlmann (Année Politique Suisse), is entitled "Das 'vertretbare' Parlament: Typen parlamentarischer Stellvertretung in den Schweizer Kantonen und Liechtenstein". She recently received her diploma in Bern.

The monitoring report for 2024, which has now been published and partly redesigned in terms of content, represents a comprehensive scientific review of the topic of extremism in Liechtenstein and is now available online.

From June 26 to 28, the Liechtenstein Institute team went on an intensive two-and-a-half-day retreat at the Propstei St. Gerold (A) to discuss key topics relevant to the Institute and to further develop the Institute.

The increasing geopolitical fragmentation of the global economy and the associated economic uncertainty are weighing on both the international and domestic economy. Andreas Brunhart and Martin Geiger comment on the current developments in different articles.

Following Liechtenstein’s accession to the IMF last fall, an IMF delegation of experts visited Liechtenstein in January 2025 as part of the first Article IV mission. The resulting IMF reports and analyses on Liechtenstein have now been discussed in detail at the 13th LIEconomics Seminar.

Martin Geiger completed his habilitation in economics at the University of Innsbruck. His habilitation thesis comprises a series of articles that examine the role of economic expectations of companies and households as well as economic uncertainty in the business cycle.

Another year of rapid development in Liechtenstein lies behind us, with events that the Liechtenstein Institute has analyzed and placed in a larger picture. The Annual Report 2024 bears witness to this.

Economist Johannes Lehmann joined the Department of Economics at the Liechtenstein Institute at the beginning of June 2025.