Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface and acknowledgements
- List of contributors
- Introduction
- 1 Money and politics: rethinking a conceptual framework
- 2 Trends in British political funding, 1979–84
- 3 Canadian election expense legislation, 1963–85: a critical appraisal or was the effort worth it?
- 4 Public funding of elections in Australia
- 5 American presidential elections since public funding, 1976–84
- 6 Party financing in Israel: experience and experimentation, 1968–85
- 7 Public financing of parties in Italy
- 8 Financing of Spanish political parties
- 9 The “modesty” of Dutch party finance
- 10 The new German system of party funding: the Presidential committe report of 1983 and its realization
- 11 Structure and impact of public subsidies to political parties in Europe: the examples of Austria, Italy, Sweden and West Germany
- Index
1 - Money and politics: rethinking a conceptual framework
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 December 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface and acknowledgements
- List of contributors
- Introduction
- 1 Money and politics: rethinking a conceptual framework
- 2 Trends in British political funding, 1979–84
- 3 Canadian election expense legislation, 1963–85: a critical appraisal or was the effort worth it?
- 4 Public funding of elections in Australia
- 5 American presidential elections since public funding, 1976–84
- 6 Party financing in Israel: experience and experimentation, 1968–85
- 7 Public financing of parties in Italy
- 8 Financing of Spanish political parties
- 9 The “modesty” of Dutch party finance
- 10 The new German system of party funding: the Presidential committe report of 1983 and its realization
- 11 Structure and impact of public subsidies to political parties in Europe: the examples of Austria, Italy, Sweden and West Germany
- Index
Summary
The effort to understand the relationships between money and politics is an enterprise as old as the development of political theory. From Aristotle on, many political philosophers have regarded property or economic power as the fundamental element in politics. According to some, the attempt to reconcile economic inequalities lies at the base of the problem of money in politics. In this view, broadly based political power, such as that effected through universal suffrage, has helped mitigate the political effects of disparities in economic resources. The wealth of one group with small membership thus may be matched by the human resources or voting power of another. I myself have written in this vein.
Now in the latter part of the twentieth century, another factor, not included in earlier analyses, needs explication. I refer to the power of government to set the rules of electoral competition and especially to provide public funds for use in the electoral process. The intent of this essay is to analyze the governmental factor and relate it to traditional theory in order to make the contemporary role of money in the political process, and the articles that follow in this volume, better understood.
In the context of political donations made by individuals or groups, I wrote elsewhere that, in virtually all societies, money serves as a significant medium by which command over both energies and resources can be achieved.
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- Information
- Comparative Political Finance in the 1980s , pp. 9 - 23Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1989
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