International Campaign Finance Lit Review

IDEA
The International IDEA political finance databse contains information on political finance laws in more than 175 countries. It was originally created in 2003 and was recently overhauled. The updated databse includes more countries, more primary sources, an covers a wider range of issues. The database breaks these questions down into four broad catagories The database makes it simple to break down data by country, region, or specific question. It also provides a form to compare two regions. The database allows you to customize and export the data to suit your needs. It supports Microsoft Excel and CSV formats.
 * IDEA political party finance
 * IDEA publication - Funding of Political Parties and Election Campaigns
 * World Survey of direct democracy
 * Electoral Justice Database
 * Electoral System Design
 * Voter Turnout Database
 * Voting from Abroad
 * IDEA political party finance database
 * 1) Bans and limits on private income
 * 2) Public funding
 * 3) Regulations of spending
 * 4) Reporting, oversight, and sanctions

NDI

 * National Democratic Institute for International Affairs study - Money in Politics: A study of party financing practices in 22 countries

USAID

 * USAID - Democracy and Governance Publications portal
 * USAID - Corruption and Political Parties (Word doc)
 * USAID - Leveling the Electoral Playing-Field During Democratic Transitions
 * USAID - Money in Politics Handbook: a guide to increasing transparency in emerging democracies

Transparency International
"Around the world, political financing is increasingly at the forefront of public debate. The rapid growth of democracy around the world since the early 1990s  has highlighted the need for stronger regulation  and reform to prevent the negative influence of  money in electoral politics.     Transparency of political party and campaign contributions is  essential to protecting the integrity of democratic processes  and ensuring fair elections. Laws requiring the public  disclosure of independent political party and campaign  contributions ensure that individuals, organisations, interest  groups and corporations do not unduly influence a country’s  elections or political leadership.     Measures addressed at reform of political party/campaign  finance are often met with strong resistance from corporations  and other organisations that use wealth to influence political  parties and elections, and from the political leaders that  rely on this wealth. Even when campaign finance laws are passed, they are often not rigorously policed or enforced due  to weak legal frameworks, under-resourced regulators and/  or lack of capacity. Political leaders and parties, independent contributors and regulators all have a critical role to play  in addressing these weaknesses and in making ‘good faith’  efforts to improve transparency in political party and electoral  campaign financing."
 * Transparency.org - Political Finance main page
 * Transparency.org - Standards on Political Finance and Favors
 * Transparency.org - Political Finance Regulations: Bridging the Enforcement Gap
 * Transparency & Accountability Initiative - Open Government Guide- Chapter on Campaign Finance

The Crinis Project
With the Carter Center


 * Crinis Project publication page
 * Press release and overview
 * CRINIS Project- website under construction?

International Foundation for Election Systems (IFES)

 * Political Finance
 * Money and Politics

Governance and Social Development Resource Center (GSDRC)

 * Political Finance resource page

Ace Project - The Electoral Knowledge Center

 * Main
 * Comparative Data on parties and candidates
 * Comparative data on legislative frameworks for electoral law
 * Electoral Integrity

Global Integrity

 * Global Integrity Report: 2011

In the News

 * Campaign finance laws and political attacks - The Freeport News, 3/7/2012
 * Harper refuses to explain why Tory MPs rejected Elections Canada finance request - Global News, 3/7/2012
 * Political Transparency South of the Border - OpenSecrets, Bob Biersack, 3/7/2012
 * Georgian election watchdog wishes it had retroactive powers - Democracy & Freedom Watch, 2/21/2012
 * Party Finance watchdog may be willing to curb its powers - Democracy & Freedom Watch, 2/11/2012
 * The colour of money in politics - The Times of Malta, 2/11/2012
 * International Campaign Finance: How do countries compare? - CNN, 1/24/2012

Other
"'Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." "3 -'Each State Party shall also consider taking appropriate legislative and administrative measures, consistent with the objectives of this Convention and in accordance with the fundamental principles of its domestic law, to enhance transparency in the funding of candidatures for elected public office and, where applicable, the funding of political parties.""4- 'Each State Party shall, in accordance with the fundamental principles of its domestic law, endeavour to adopt, maintain and strengthen systems that promote transparency and prevent conflicts of interest." ""
 * Article 19, International Declaration of Human Rights:
 * "International Review of Administrative Sciences" March 2012 journal edition on Government Transparency ($). http://ras.sagepub.com/content/current
 * United Nations Convention Against Corruption (PDF), Article 7. Section 3 and 4: