Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
enterprise.
With a price tag of six billion dollars, the recent United Stateselection season set a record for the
most expensive election of alltimes, and re-launched the global debate on campaign finance.
Thecomplex relationship between money and democracy has sparked controversysince the
beginnings of democracy in ancient Greece, when the firstincidents of vote buying were reported,
and has continued to do so eversince. Are private money and democracy fundamentally
incompatible, ordoes private 'finance have a role to play in fostering politicalengagement? Although
arguments can be made for both sides, several keyreforms can be implemented across die globe.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Public vs. Private Finance: The Ongoing Debate
The concept of "one person, one vote" is one of the
fundamental tenets of democracy, if not the most
important one. However,
as University of Missouri professor Jeff Milyo points out in his study
of
campaign finance, this concept does not always ensure perfect
representation of each individual's
stake in a certain political
issue. The protection of water resources, for example, may be
of
particular concern to a certain minority; but if the issue is brought to
general election, the
concerned minority will not receive a share of the
vote that reflects its direct interest in the issue. In
this context,
campaign financing by individuals can be viewed not as a form of
vote-buying, but
instead as a way for concerned minorities to voice
their opinion on a topic of direct interest to
them.
This was to a large extent the rationale behind the well-publicizedUS Supreme Court decision in
Citizens United vs. Federal ElectionCommission. In 2010, Citizens United attempted to publicize a
videocritical of Hillary Clinton, which the Federal Election Commissiondeclared a violation of
legislature restricting corporate financing ofpolitical elections. The case was taken to the Supreme
Court, whichdecided in a 5-4 ruling that Citizens United and other corporations wereentitled to
independent political spending under the freedom ofexpression protections provided in the First
Amendment. Although USpresident Barack Obama called the decision, "a green light to a
newstampede of special interest money in our politics," proponents ofthe decision argued that it was
more compatible with democracy than thepublic funding alternative.
In Europe, government funds are provided to political parties in
exchange for full disclosure of
campaign expenditures, which has been
flaunted as the best way to level the playing field between
incumbents
and challengers. However, a recent study by the think tank IDEA revealed
that most
citizens were opposed to using government funds to subsidize
political parties. Although no
extensive study has been conducted on the
topic, there is evidently potential for the incumbent
government to
restrict funding in order to maintain its advantage. In Russia, for
example, the
incumbent party is allowed to campaign on state-sponsored
official tours, whereas spending caps
for other parties place a limit on
the amount of campaigning they are able to undertake.
As a last argument in favor of private financing, a recent study
published by Policy Analysis
indicated a strong correlation between
restrictions on private funding and lower levels of
political
competition. Limiting the amount of money that can be donated to a
political party is often
more harmful to https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOffdjWV4n63voF5kW7-HgA the challenger
than the
incumbent, as the challenger typically needs more funds to increase its
public prevalence.
Looser financial regulations could therefore have a
positive impact on the number of political
options available to
citizens. On the other hand, the large funds amassed by the
incumbent
government through private financing over several elections may also
create a deterrent
effect, preventing the creation of new parties. In
the United States, the funds that would be
necessary for a third-party
to challenge the Democratic or Republican parties arguably contribute
to
the maintenance of the bipartisan system.
The main argument against private financing directly comparesindividual contributions to bribing.
Can a donator as generous asSheldon Adelson, the business magnate who contributed over $34
millionUSD to the Romney campaign, really expect nothing in return for hislarge expenses? It may
simply be that legislators and privatecontributors have similar ideological positions and interests.
Theconcept of bribery implies that politicians change their policies tosuit contributors, but it may be
that politicians' positionsattract donors, not vice versa.
Overall, a closer look at the importance of campaign financing,
reveals that private money may not
actually influence political outcomes
to the extent envisaged by the public. The Sunlight Foundation
reported
very low rates of returns for many of the major contributors to the US
election season in
2012. For example, American Crossroads, the super PAC
backing the Republicans, only saw 1.29%
of its spending result in the
desired political outcome. Smaller funds that focused on key issues
or
local elections, such as Women Vote, were those that observed the
highest rates of return.
Similar points cannot necessarily be made for
other countries, however, as contributors to the
Venezuelan and
Brazilian elections experienced significantly higher rates of return.
Enforcing Transparency
Whether or not private finance actually plays an important role in
influencing elections, various
reforms exist that can broadly be agreed
upon to improve the regulations surrounding political
finance.
Transparency requirements enable citizens, local watchdogs, and
international NGOs to
supplement the role of the state and prevent any
bias on the part of the incumbent government.
This is particularly
important for less economically developed democracies, which may have
limited
resources to audit financial spending. Surprisingly, more than
25 percent of democracies that
require full disclosure of campaign
funding still do not have a requirement for this information to be
made
public.
Well-established democracies, however, still have room for
improvement in this area. Transparency
should be more strongly
emphasized in local and smaller level races as well as nation
wide
campaigns. Legislature on the funding of national elections is extensive
and well-enforced,
both in North America and in Europe. However,
research conducted by the Center for Public
Integrity suggests that it
is in more local elections that private money presents the potential
for
swaying policy. For example, a study by the Institute of Governmental
Studies at Berkeley found
a close correlation between campaign
contributions and the price of telecommunication contracts in
the United
States, the high volatility of which had previously been inexplicable.
Transparency
reforms have been focused on the more widely publicized and
more closely scrutinized national
elections, but root level races should
in no way be forgotten.
One final point to take into account when developing transparency
norms is the existing landscape
of political finance. For example,
candidate funding is the area more closely monitored in the
United
States, where private financing is the norm, whereas in Germany it is
spending that is
reviewed at the end of the year, as the public sector
provides most of the initial funds. The
motivation in both cases remains
the same and allows civil society and international groups to
be
involved in the auditing process, in order to ensure it exists elsewhere
than on paper.
Large-scale, radical transformations to campaign finance are
difficult to pass through. In the United
States, for example, a move to
a more public system of finance would require an amendment to
the
constitution and therefore the approval of two-thirds of Congress and
three fourths of the
states. Reform is therefore likely to move on a
slow, case-by-case basis, but that does not mean it is
impossible or
unnecessary. In a poll conducted by Associated Press, 83 percent of
United States
citizens expressed themselves in favor of limits on
contributions by corporations and unions. French
and German citizens
have expressed similar dissatisfaction with the state of public funding.
The key
is to ensure that the reforms that take place are implemented in
a realistic and balanced manner
that takes into account the global
experience with campaign finance.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
SARAH FELLAY is a staff writer for the Harvard International
Review.
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Future+of+campaign+finance:+the+multi-billion+dollar+enterprise.
-a0324249881