This document offers an analysis of political finance policy as it affects parties and democratic development, with a primary focus on societies where democracy is either relatively new or re-emerging from crisis. Parties in these societies typically confront pervasive scarcity, and they lack the tolerant attitudes, social capital, and supportive institutions that help sustain democratic politics elsewhere. Rules affecting the ways money is contributed, raised, spent, and disclosed—or, for that matter, a laissez faire policy or ineffective legislation in any of those areas—will have powerful implications for the quality and sustainability of democratic processes.
