Party Funding and Corruption in Western Europe: Contexts and Considerations

Party funding regime change in Western Europe almost uniformly occurs in the direction of a move from a system of private funding to one in which the predominant form of funding is through state subvention. Identified as one of the key drivers of this change is the perception of the occurrence of political corruption, indeed there appears to be an understudied assumption that a system of state subsidy is necessarily less corrupt than one in which private funding takes precedence. This is particularly the case in Great Britain where the debates about party funding reform are couched in this language. The contention of this paper is that the current British funding regime is not necessarily more corrupt but that there is a specific type of corruption that is prevalent due to the nature of the party funding regime itself. In Denmark, where state subsidy is the primary source of finance - the prevalent corruption or, at the very least, anxieties about the corruption that occurs in the party funding regime is different. The paper argues that the type of corruption that is prevalent in a system is dependent on the party funding regime of said system, as such, a focus on levels of corruption is misguided for those who push for reform. Utilising the primary research method of the elite interview and documentary research, this comparative study adds vital empirical work to a relatively understudied area, as well as presenting important new typological additions to the field of corruption research.