Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T07:47:00.377Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Spending Levels of Political Parties: An Explanation Based on a Multilevel Analysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 July 2017

Abstract

This article examines the determinants of the annual overall spending levels of political parties from a comparative perspective. On the basis of a dataset with 1,317 observations from 99 parties in nine European parliamentary democracies, we illustrate that the spending levels of parties – calculated on the basis of Nassmacher’s index of political spending – have not systematically increased over the past decade. A multilevel analysis shows that, at the country level, spending levels are higher in countries with a longer tradition of public funding, a higher effective number of parties and a shorter democratic tradition. They are also higher in election years, but this effect is moderated when campaign spending limits apply. At the party level, spending levels increase with party strength and party age. Party ideology and government participation, on the other hand, do not have an effect.

Type
Articles
Copyright
© The Author(s). Published by Government and Opposition Limited and Cambridge University Press 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

Jef Smulders is a Research Fellow of the Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO), affiliated to the KU Leuven Public Governance Institute. Contact email: [email protected].

Bart Maddens is a Professor of Political Science at the KU Leuven Public Governance Institute. Contact email: [email protected].

References

Anderson, M. and Tham, J.-C. (2014), ‘Dynamics of Electoral Expenditure and the “Arms Race” Thesis: The Case of New South Wales’, Australian Journal of Political Science, 49(1): 84101.Google Scholar
Ansolabehere, S., de Figueiredo, J.M. and Snyder, J.M. (2003), ‘Why Is There so Little Money in U.S. Politics?’, Journal of Economic Perspectives, 17(1): 105130.Google Scholar
Bartolini, S. and Mair, P. (1990), Identity, Competition and Electoral Availability: The Stabilisation of European Electorates 1885–1985 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).Google Scholar
Blumenberg, M.S. (2013), Ausgabenstrukturen demokratischer Parteien im internationalen Vergleich (Hamburg: Verlag Dr. Kovač).Google Scholar
Bolleyer, N. (2009), ‘Inside the Cartel Party: Party Organisation in Government and Opposition’, Political Studies, 57(3): 559579.Google Scholar
Bormann, N.-C. and Golder, M. (2013), ‘Democratic Electoral Systems around the World, 1946–2011’, Electoral Studies, 32(2): 360369.Google Scholar
Bryan, M.L. and Jenkins, S.P. (2016), ‘Multilevel Modelling of Country Effects: A Cautionary Tale’, European Sociological Review, 32(1): 322.Google Scholar
Bukow, S. (2012), Die professionalisierte Mitgliederpartei: Politische Parteien zwischen institutionellen Erwartungen und organisationaler Wirklichkeit (Wiesbaden: Springer VS).Google Scholar
Casas-Zamora, K. (2005), Paying for Democracy: Political Finance and State Funding for Parties (Colchester: ECPR Press).Google Scholar
Cordes, D. (2002), ‘Die Finanzierung der politischen Parteien Deutschlands, Österreichs und der Niederlande’, unpublished PhD thesis, Oldenburg, Carl von Ossietzky Universität.Google Scholar
Döring, H. and Manow, P. (2016), ‘Parliaments and Governments Database (ParlGov): Information on Parties, Elections and Cabinets in Modern Democracies. Development Version’, www.parlgov.org.Google Scholar
Duverger, M. (1954), Political Parties: Their Organization and Activity in the Modern State (London: Methuen).Google Scholar
Emanuele, V. (2015), ‘Dataset of Electoral Volatility and its Internal Components in Western Europe (1945–2015)’, http://dx.doi.org/10.7802/1112.Google Scholar
Enyedi, Z. and Linek, L. (2008), ‘Searching for the Right Organization: Ideology and Party Structure in East-Central Europe’, Party Politics, 14(4): 455477.Google Scholar
Ewing, K. and Rowbottom, J. (2012), ‘The Role of Spending Controls: New Electoral Actors and New Campaign Techniques’, in K. Ewing, J. Rowbottom and J.-C. Tham (eds), The Funding of Political Parties: Where Now? (New York: Routledge): 7791.Google Scholar
Farrell, D. and Webb, P. (2000), ‘Political Parties as Campaign Organizations’, in R. Dalton and M. Wattenberg (eds), Parties Without Partisans: Political Change in Advanced Industrial Democracies (Oxford: Oxford University Press): 102128.Google Scholar
Global Commission on Elections Democracy and Security (2012), Deepening Democracy: A Strategy for Improving the Integrity of Elections Worldwide (Stockholm and Geneva: International IDEA and the Kofi Annan Foundation).Google Scholar
Grofman, B. (2005), ‘Comparisons among Electoral Systems: Distinguishing between Localism and Candidate-Centered Politics’, Electoral Studies, 24(4): 735740.Google Scholar
Heidenheimer, A.J. (1963), ‘Comparative Party Finance: Notes on Practices and Toward a Theory’, Journal of Politics, 25(4): 790811.Google Scholar
Hofnung, M. (2008), ‘Unaccounted Competition: The Finance of Intra-Party Elections’, Party Politics, 14(6): 726744.Google Scholar
Hopkin, J. (2004), ‘The Problem with Party Finance: Theoretical Perspectives on the Funding of Party Politics’, Party Politics, 10(6): 627651.Google Scholar
Huntington, S.P. (1991), The Third Wave: Democratization in the Late Twentieth Century (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press).Google Scholar
Ikstens, J., Pinto-Duschinsky, M., Smilov, D. and Walecki, M. (2002), ‘Political Finance in Central Eastern Europe: An Interim Report’, Austrian Journal of Political Science, 31(1): 2140.Google Scholar
Janda, K. and King, D.S. (1985), ‘Formalizing and Testing Duverger’s Theories on Political Parties’, Comparative Political Studies, 18(2): 139169.Google Scholar
Karlsen, R. and Narud, H.M. (2013), ‘Nominations, Campaigning and Representation: How the Secret Garden of Politics Determines the Style of Campaigning and Roles of Representation’, in P. Esaiasson and H.M. Narud (eds), Between-Election Democracy: The Representative Relationship After Election Day (Colchester: ECPR Press): 77–101.Google Scholar
Karvonen, L. (2007), ‘Legislation on Political Parties: A Global Comparison’, Party Politics, 13(4): 437455.Google Scholar
Kenward, M.G. and Roger, J.H. (2009), ‘An Improved Approximation to the Precision of Fixed Effects from Restricted Maximum Likelihood’, Computational Statistics and Data Analysis, 53(7): 25832595.Google Scholar
Kopecký, P., Mair, P. and Spirova, M. (2012) (eds), Party Patronage and Party Government in European Democracies (Oxford: Oxford University Press).Google Scholar
Krouwel, A. (2012), Party Transformations in European Democracies (Albany: SUNY Press).Google Scholar
Kulick, M.S. and Nassmacher, K. (2012), ‘Do Parties Spend Too Much?’, in J. Mendilow (ed.), Money, Corruption, and Political Competition in Established and Emerging Democracies (Plymouth: Lexington Books): 1739.Google Scholar
Ladner, A. and Brändle, M. (1999), ‘Does Direct Democracy Matter for Political Parties? An Empirical Test in the Swiss Cantons’, Party Politics, 5(3): 283302.Google Scholar
Maas, C.J.M. and Hox, J.J. (2005), ‘Sufficient Sample Sizes for Multilevel Modeling’, Methodology, 1(3): 8692.Google Scholar
Mair, P. (1994), ‘Party Organizations: From Civil Society to the State’, in R.S. Katz and P. Mair (eds), How Parties Organize: Change and Adaptation in Party Organizations in Western Democracies (London: Sage Publications): 122.Google Scholar
Nassmacher, K. (1989), ‘Structure and Impact of Public Subsidies to Political Parties in Europe: The Examples of Austria, Italy, Sweden and West Germany’, in H.E. Alexander (ed.), Comparative Political Finance in the 1980s (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press): 236267.Google Scholar
Nassmacher, K. (1992), ‘Parteifinanzen im westeuropäischen Vergleich’, Zeitschrift Für Parlamentsfragen, 92(3): 462488.Google Scholar
Nassmacher, K. (1993), ‘Comparing Party and Campaign Finance in Western Democracies’, in A.B. Gunlicks (ed.), Campaign and Party Finance in North America and Western Europe (Boulder, CO: Westview Press): 233267.Google Scholar
Nassmacher, K. (2002), ‘Die Kosten der Parteitätigkeit in westlichen Demokratien’, Österreichische Zeitschrift für Politikwissenschaft, 31(1): 720.Google Scholar
Nassmacher, K. (2009), The Funding of Party Competition: Political Finance in 25 Democracies (Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft).Google Scholar
Ohman, M. (2012), Political Finance Regulations Around the World (Stockholm: International IDEA).Google Scholar
Ohman, M. (2014), ‘Getting the Political Finance System Right’, in E. Falguera, S. Jones and M. Ohman (eds), Funding of Political Parties and Election Campaigns: A Handbook on Political Finance (Stockholm: International IDEA): 1334.Google Scholar
Overacker, L. (1932), Money in Elections (New York: Macmillan).Google Scholar
Panebianco, A. (1982), Political Parties: Organization and Power (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).Google Scholar
Pinto-Duschinsky, M. (1981), British Political Finance 1830–1980 (Washington: American Enterprise Institute Press).Google Scholar
Pinto-Duschinsky, M. (2002), ‘Financing Politics: A Global View’, Journal of Democracy, 13(4): 6986.Google Scholar
Pinto-Duschinsky, M. (2008), Paying for the Party: Myths and Realities in British Political Finance (London: Policy Exchange).Google Scholar
Pinto-Duschinsky, M. (2013), ‘Political Finance and Public Integrity: Facts, Sceptical Thoughts and Policy Ideas’, OECD background paper, www.oecd.org/gov/ethics/Facts-Sceptical-Thoughts-Policy-Ideas.pdf.Google Scholar
Scarrow, S.E. (2007), ‘Political Finance in Comparative Perspective’, Annual Review of Political Science, 10: 193210.Google Scholar
Scarrow, S.E. (2011), ‘Carrots and Sticks, Chickens and Eggs: Understanding Variations in Party Finance Regulatory Regimes’, paper presented at the IPSA/ECPR Conference, São Paolo, 16–19 February.Google Scholar
Simral, V. (2014), ‘The Cost of Partitocracy: Party Funding in East Central Europe’, unpublished PhD thesis, Lucca, IMT Institute for Advanced Studies.Google Scholar
Smulders, J. and Maddens, B. (2016), ‘Political Parties’ Annual Accounts and the Impact of the Group of States against Corruption in 18 European States: Towards Enhanced Transparency?’, Election Law Journal, 15(2): 175186.Google Scholar
Starbuck, W.H. (1965), ‘Organizational Growth and Development’, in J.G. March (ed.), Handbook of Organizations (Chicago: Rand McNally): 451583.Google Scholar
Van Biezen, I. (2003), Financing Political Parties and Election Campaigns: Guidelines (Strasbourg: Council of Europe Publishing).Google Scholar
Van Biezen, I. (2004), ‘Political Parties as Public Utilities’, Party Politics, 10(6): 701722.Google Scholar
Van Biezen, I. (2008), ‘State Intervention in Party Politics: The Public Funding and Regulation of Political Parties’, European Review, 16(3): 337353.Google Scholar
Van Biezen, I. and Kopecký, P. (2007), ‘The State and the Parties: Public Funding, Public Regulation and Rent-Seeking in Contemporary Democracies’, Party Politics, 13(2): 235254.Google Scholar
Walecki, M. (2007a), Spending Limits as a Policy Option, IFES Political Finance White Paper Series (Arlington).Google Scholar
Walecki, M. (2007b), The Europeanization of Political Parties: Influencing the Regulations on Political Finance, EUI Working Paper MWP Series (San Domenico di Fiesole).Google Scholar
Wilson, F.L. (1998), ‘The Center-Right at the End of the Century’, in F.L. Wilson (ed.), The European Center-Right at the End of the Twentieth Century (London: Macmillan Press): 247270.Google Scholar