Checkbook elections? : political finance in comparative perspective / edited by Pippa Norris and Andrea Abel van Es.

"The Electoral Integrity Project: why elections fail and what we can do about it."

Includes bibliographical references (pages 289-314) and index.

Understanding political finance reform / Pippa Norris and Andrea Abel van Es -- Brazil / Bruno Speck -- Britain / Justin Fisher -- India / Eswaran Sridharan and Milan Vaishnav -- Indonesia / Marcus Mietzner -- Japan / Matthew Carlson -- Russia / Grigorii V. Golosov -- South Africa / Richard Calland -- Sweden / Magnus Ohman -- United States / Richard Briffault -- Why regulate? / Andrea Abel van Es -- Does regulation work? / Pippa Norris and Andrea Abel van Es -- The lessons for political finance reform / Pippa Norris and Andrea Abel van Es.

Money is essential to the functioning of electoral politics, yet regulating its appropriate use raises complex and controversial challenges in countries around the world. Both long-established democracies and emerging economies have been continually plagued by problems of financial malfeasance, graft, corruption, and cronyism. To throw new light on these important challenges, this book addresses three related questions: (1) what types of public policies are commonly used in attempts to regulate the role of money in politics?, (2) what triggers landmark finance reforms? and, (3) above all, what works, what fails, and why - when countries implement reforms? Checkbook Elections? presents an original theory for understanding policies regulating political finance, reflecting the degree to which laws are laissez-faire or guided by state intervention. Each chapter is written by an area specialist and collectively cover long-established democracies as well as hybrid regimes, affluent post-industrial societies (Sweden, the United States, Britain, and Japan), major emerging economies (Russia, Brazil, and South Africa) and developing societies (India and Indonesia). Brings forth new concepts, theories and evidence to illuminate issues of political finance ; Contributors draw upon a wide range of cases in established democracies such as Britain, Sweden, and the United States, as well as diverse regimes such as South Africa, India, Indonesia and Russia ; Presents cutting-edge research in an accessible manner.--Publisher website.