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Palgrave Macmillan

Party Funding and Corruption

  • Book
  • © 2020

Overview

Authors:
  1. Sam Power

    1. Department of Politics, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK

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  • Links the fields of party funding and corruption
  • Makes real-world relevant suggestions on applicable reforms
  • Based on over 40 interviews with politicians, party donors, trade unionists, investigative journalists, civil servants, electoral regulators

Part of the book series: Political Corruption and Governance (PCG)

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Table of contents (10 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xvii
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  2. Introduction: Party Funding and Corruption in Advanced Industrial Democracies

    • Sam Power
    Pages 1-14

  3. The Relationship Between Corruption and the Funding of Party Competition

    • Sam Power
    Pages 15-38

  4. New Institutionalism: Towards a Consolidated Approach

    • Sam Power
    Pages 39-55

  5. Analysing Corruption and Party Funding

    • Sam Power
    Pages 57-70

  6. Great Britain and Denmark: Party Funding Regimes and Accounts

    • Sam Power
    Pages 71-107

  7. The Institutional Evolution of the Party Funding Regime in Great Britain

    • Sam Power
    Pages 109-123

  8. Party Funding and Corruption in Great Britain

    • Sam Power
    Pages 125-147

  9. The Institutional Evolution of the Danish Party Funding Regime

    • Sam Power
    Pages 149-167

  10. Party Funding and Corruption in Denmark

    • Sam Power
    Pages 169-187

  11. Conclusion: Money, Power and Representation

    • Sam Power
    Pages 189-206

  12. Back Matter

    Pages 207-251
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Keywords

About this book

This book systematically explores the relationship between party funding and corruption, and addresses fundamental concerns in the continued consideration of how democracy should function. The book analyses whether parties funded primarily through private donations are necessarily more corrupt than those funded by the state, and whether different types of corruption are evident in different funding regimes. Drawing on a comparison of Great Britain and Denmark, the author argues that levels of state subsidy are, in fact, unrelated to the type of corruption found. Subsidies are not a cure for corruption or, importantly, perceived corruption, so if they are to be introduced or sustained, this should be done for other reasons. Subsidies can, for example, be justified on grounds of public utility. Meanwhile, anti-corruption measures should focus on other regulations, but even then we should not expect such measures to impact on perceptions of corruption in the short term.


Reviews

“This well-written book constitutes the ‘state of the art’ in a field that is increasingly important for the understanding of the challenges confronting democracy in the age of populism and widespread political apathy. Though the study focuses on Europe , the book is important not only for readers seeking to understand the complexities  of state funding of parties but for anyone interested in the effort to shore up democratic regimes all over the world.” (Jonathan Mendilow, Professor, Political Science, Rider University, USA, and Chair, IPSA Research Council, Political Finance and Political Corruption)

 

“Sam Power has done a brilliant job of capturing, unraveling and explaining the complex nature of party funding and its impact on the very foundations of democracy. In this era of seemingly endless upheaval – from the emergence of a ‘new right’ populism to declining rates of participation, this book gives the context and framing necessary to understand the role of financing in this period of democratic uncertainty.” (Kyle Taylor, Founder and Director of Fair Vote UK, Secretariat for the APPG on Electoral Campaigning Transparency)

 

“This is a fascinating book, which makes an excellent contribution to the study of party finance, both by useful international comparison, and by carefully showing why discussions of party finance and corruption need careful and precise definitions in order to be analytically meaningful. This book marks a real advance in both the party finance and corruption literatures.” (Justin Fisher, Professor of Political Science, Brunel University London, UK)

Authors and Affiliations

  • Department of Politics, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK

    Sam Power

About the author

Sam Power is Lecturer in Corruption Analysis at the University of Sussex, UK. Previously he was Associate Lecturer in Politics at the University of Exeter and Research Associate at the Sir Bernard Crick Centre for the Public Understanding of Politics, University of Sheffield. Sam has written extensively on issues related to the financing of politics in both academic and non-academic publications and regularly provides expert interviews and analyses on TV, on the radio, and online. 

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