Comparative Party Finance Reform

Abstract

In Britain, the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act has revolutionised the regulation of party finance after several half-hearted failures at attempted reform. InFrance, a series of high profile corruption scandals in the 1980s and 1990s provoked a bout of 'legislative incontinence' -resulting in over eight laws in seven years, which profoundly transformed the regime regulating party finance. The comparative analysis of reforms in each country presented here questions the utility of crude 'constitutional engineering' theories, and the notion of party system 'cartelisation' by major parties, neither of which offers a wholly convincing account of the paths of reform in Britain and France. It explores the use of new institutionalist theories as a comparative framework and concludes that these provide a cogent explanation for the alternative paths taken by each country with party finance regulation.

Mapping private party funding regulation. Deregulation in sight?

“…Political finance is a legislation in constant flux and the experience of Europe seems to prove this quite effectively. 'Legislative incontinence'how Clift and Fisher (2004) defined the several waves of political finance reform in Franceis a definition that could be applied to several European countries. This has particularly been the case in the last two decades, as the number of political finance reforms peaked mostly as the result of the pressure on individual member countries by the evaluation reports issued by GRECO.…”

Delayed shock? How Brexit conditioned campaign effects in British general elections

“…In both, relative stability is the norm. However, when there are shocks such as economic crises, or when rules no longer confer legitimacy (Clift and Fisher, 2004), significant changes in outcomes follow, sometimes leading to permanent and dramatic shifts in policy. In the context of electoral politics, shocks are disturbances which represent a sharp change in the status quo outside the normal course of politics; are highly salient and noticeable over prolonged time periods, and are relevant to party politics (Fieldhouse et al, 2020b, 32).…”

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“…3. Changing public norms and opinions (Clift and Fisher 2004): Public attitudes toward politics, politicians, and parties dictate the acceptability of different instruments, such as public funding of campaigns or limits on private activities. A well-publicized scandal, for example, may shift public attitudes.…”