Cleaning Up Politics
Via The Washington Post Blog
The role of money in politics challenges states worldwide, both rich and poor. Its abuse raises problems of graft, corruption and cronyism, which undermine legitimacy and governance. In recent years, financial scandals have erupted all over the world. In Britain, a Conservative Party treasurer offered access to the prime minister for 250,000 pounds. In Germany, corruption hit during the final years of Chancellor Helmut Kohl. In Brazil, high-profile politicians made clandestine payments in exchange for support. In Australia, members of the prime minister’s Liberal party stepped down after soliciting illegal donations. In Chile, recent corruption allegations rocked the political establishment.
Yet money is essential for mobilizing election campaigns, sustaining political party organizations, and communicating with citizens. And countries, such as Sweden, have managed to avoid falling foul of malfeasance and graft.
So how can politics be cleaned up most effectively? New evidence on this issue is available from a comparative report and dataset released by theMoney, Politics and Transparency project, produced by Global Integrity (GI),the Sunlight Foundation, and the Electoral Integrity Project (EIP) at Harvard University and the University of Sydney.
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