Foundations for Democracy: Approaches to Comparative Political Finance

The term foundation indicates the natural base on which a certain structure rests as well as an institution designed to support something useful. Both connotations apply to the contents of this book, which is completely written in English. Political finance deals with the mother’s milk of politics and focuses on key issues of democracy. The use of money as a political resource confronts the unequal distribution of wealth in modern societies with the democratic principle. Part A of the volume presents comparative analyses of political income and expenditure in Western Democracies, Japan and Israel. Part B deals with major impacts and the work of political finance regimes, e.g. on participation, linkage and controls of political spending. Part C discusses whether the western model of democracy can provide an adequate orientation for the consolidation of democracies in India, Latin America and East Central Europe and presents efforts to strengthen democracy by means of foundations. Part D contains an extensive Bibliography on Political Finance. The editor is Professor for Political Science at the Carl-von-Ossietzky University, Oldenburg, Germany. He has chaired the IPSA Research Committee on Political Finance and Political Corruption from 1994 to 2000.