The Campaign finance reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Jul-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Campaign finance

Campaign finance refers to the means by which money is raised for election campaigns.

It is commonly alleged that campaign finance based on large private or corporate donations may lead to de facto corruption in democratic systems, even though such donations may be legal and thus not de jure corruption. In many states, this has led to movements for campaign finance reform.

In disciplines such as economics and public policy, public choice theory and collective action theory attempt to understand the effects of this kind of private power on the outcomes of political processes.

Democratic countries have differing views on what is legal and what is acceptable in terms of donations to political parties and campaigns. For instance, the United States has a fairly liberal view of them, and the campaigns of most prominent politicians are funded by a variety of sources. Other countries take a more restricted view, for instance making illegal contributions from corporations.

See also

• Campaign finance reform
• Hard money
• Pacific scandal
• Soft money

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