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International Forum >> The Democracy Forum for East Asia>> "Political Finance and Democracy in East Asia: The Use and Abuse of Money in Campaigns and Elections"
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Introduction
Session I: Political Finance in a Comparative Context Session II: Political Finance in the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, and India Session III: Political Finance in Korea, Japan, and Taiwan Session IV: Regulating Campaign Contributions and Expenditures Session V: Disclosure, Transparency, and Institutional Enforcement Session VI: Making Political Finance More Democratic: Developing an Agenda for Reform Agenda Participants |
Session I: Political Finance in a Comparative Context Moderator: Larry Diamond The first session of the academic portion of the conference focused on problems of political finance in a comparative context and on the state of political science research on these problems. Larry Diamond, an American participant, noted that many democracies have experienced recent declines in public confidence in government institutions. Often such declines can be traced to political scandals, especially scandals involving money. Restoring confidence in democratic governments will require different reforms in different countries, he said. In some places there may be a need for new restrictions on political finance activities or for better enforcement of existing laws, while other countries may need more disclosure and a greater public awareness of the role of money in politics. Michael Pinto-Duschinsky, a participant from Great Britain, described how political finance has evolved from being a minor field of study to being a central concern for political scientists in many parts of the world. He attributed this not only to improvements in the quality of democracy and to public revulsion at political finance scandals, but to the growing tendency of international aid agencies to require that recipient countries adopt greater transparency and stronger anticorruption measures-all of which have stimulated the academic study of money in politics. Despite a global concern with the problem of political finance, there is not likely to be a global solution to it, this participant added. As the previous speaker had noted, each country will have to adopt reforms appropriate for its own conditions, and the intelligent discussion of such reforms will require sustained research on the laws and practices of each country, including the research prepared for this conference. The next two participants described political finance laws and practices in South and North America to provide a broad framework for the subsequent discussions of Asia. In Colombia, Bolivia, and several other countries in Latin America, proceeds from the illegal drug trade corrupt the political process and precipitate major scandals, often involving political figures at the highest levels. The resulting public outrage leads to demands for extensive reforms, such as public funding of elections, which has been adopted in as many as sixteen countries in the region. But in countries characterized by candidate-centered political organizations, public financing may lead to a proliferation of weak political parties, which Eduardo Posada Carbó, a historian from Colombia, feared would not contribute to democratic stability. The United States has had public disclosure of many types of campaign contributions and expenditures for 25 years, according to Clyde Wilcox, an American political scientist who has studied the system for many years. Among other advantages, disclosure helps authorities enforce existing laws, helps candidates, donors, and citizens understand the laws, and helps inform a public debate on the proper and improper uses of money in politics. But disclosure is not without its costs, including the direct costs to candidates for lawyers and accountants to comply with reporting requirements and the costs of the state and federal election commissions that receive financial reports and provide public access to them (including, in recent years, through the Internet). Public disclosure deters at least some potential contributors in the United States, this participant speculated, but in other parts of the world the disclosure of campaign contributions could lead to embarrassment, harassment, or even physical danger for donors. Jong Wan Kim, a Korean participant, noted that political finance was of more than academic importance to countries in the region. Illegal political contributions are largely responsible for the political-business collusion (or so-called crony capitalism) that precipitated the East Asian financial crisis, with a cruel economic impact on the countries thus affected. But S. K. Mendiratta, a participant from India, noted that since politicians make laws, they are not likely to make laws that will impact them negatively. New laws to regulate spending, for example, would likely drive spending underground. And Hoon Jaung, another Korean participant, noted that campaign finance laws are often applied selectively to harass or stifle opposition parties. Smita Notosusanto from Indonesia asserted that corruption there was so pervasive that it was all but impossible to uncover the true extent of political finance activity. Andi Mallarengeng, another participant from Indonesia, said that official reports on campaign spending vastly underestimated the costs of campaigns. Numerous participants reported that vote buying was a serious problem in their countries. Other participants noted, however, that what some critics see as vote buying is, in some cultural settings, a ritual of small gift-giving that connects candidates and voters in a context of mutual respect. And in the absence of clear policy differences among parties, American participant Laura Thornton observed, it is hard to fault voters for favoring candidates who promise tangible rewards for their support. As Japanese political scientist Masaru Kohno had noted earlier, "in a democracy, the voters usually have the last word." |
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