223
The Regulation and Funding of Political Parties in Comparative Perspective

Tuesday, 12 July 2016: 14:15-15:45
Location: Hörsaal 5A G (Neues Institutsgebäude (NIG))
RC18 Political Sociology (host committee)

Language: English

The regulation and funding of political parties have gained room throughout Europe in the recent decades. The introduction of party regulation and funding has generally been interpreted as a measure to enhance the quality of democracy and deter the emergence and consolidation of populist and anti-system parties. This field of study is still in its infancy. Many studies have focused on single or regional cases, but only a few make explicit attempts to formulate specific hypotheses on the existing relationships between party organizational change and state regulation/funding. 
This session would favour the development of a comprehensive and widely accepted analytical framework aimed at formulating cross-national generalizations. It welcomes both theoretical and empirical contributions on party regulation/funding, and on the impact of these institutional regimes on party organizational change. Particular attention will be devoted to comparative research designs, as well as crucial case studies, focusing on: 

  • the prescriptions of regulation and norms on party organizational settings;
  • the relevance of direct/indirect public funding on party revenues, compared to private financing (grassroots revenues, interested contributions, etc.); 
  • party vulnerability to illegal funding;
  • the strategic allocation of party resources (party expenses for electoral campaigning, political communication, propaganda, party bureaucracy, etc); 
  • party attitude to organizational change (statutory modifications, shift of intra-party power, tendency to stratarchical/hierarchical model, etc.).
Session Organizers:
Piero IGNAZI, University of Bologna, Italy and Eugenio PIZZIMENTI, University of Pisa, Italy
Posters:
The Regulation of Political Participation Across Party Organizations
Giulia SANDRI, Universite Catholique de Lille, France; Felix VON NOSTITZ, University of Exeter, United Kingdom
On the Coherence of Political Finance Regulation
Daniela R. PICCIO, Università degli Studi di Torino, Italy
Party Finance and Party Membership in Europe
Piero IGNAZI, University of Bologna, Italy; Eugenio PIZZIMENTI, University of Pisa, Italy; Francesca FEO, University of Bologna, Italy
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