[Okfn-ca] Fwd: [open-government] New research and resources from the Money, Politics and Transparency project

Thu Jul 16 14:28:30 UTC 2015

-------- Message transféré --------
Sujet : 	[open-government] New research and resources from the Money, 
Politics and Transparency project
Date : 	Thu, 16 Jul 2015 08:43:17 -0400
De : 	Lindsay Ferris <lferris at sunlightfoundation.com>
Pour : 	money-politics-transparency at googlegroups.com, 
sunlight-international at googlegroups.com, Open Government WG List 
<open-government at lists.okfn.org>, pmo-network at googlegroups.com

**Apologies for cross-posting**

Hi all,

Today, Money, Politics and Transparency 
<http://moneypoliticstransparency.org>, a joint project between 
Sunlight, Global Integrity and the Electoral Integrity Project, could 
not be more excited to launch our revamped website 
<http://moneypoliticstransparency.org>, including a first-of-its-kind 
dataset and series of case studies 
<http://moneypoliticstransparency.org/casestudies> documenting campaign 
finance transparency practices globally. We are also fueling next steps 
for policy advocates through the release of the Declaration on Political 
Finance Openness for public comment. 
<http://moneypoliticstransparency.org/declaration> We hope these 
resources will become an asset to transparency and political finance 
advocates globally.

You can see our full announcement below or on the Sunlight blog 
<http://sunlightfoundation.com/blog/2015/07/16/new-resources-from-the-money-politics-and-transparency-project-expose-moneys-troubling-role-in-politics/>. 
We look forward to hearing your feedback on these resources.

Today, theÂ Money, Politics and Transparency 
<http://moneypoliticstransparency.org/>Â (MPT) project, a 
joint-initiative between the Sunlight Foundation, Global Integrity and 
the Electoral Integrity Project, is excited to release a new set of 
resources that expose moneyâ€™s troubling role in political parties and 
election campaigns globally.

Our revampedÂ Money, Politics and Transparency website 
<http://moneypoliticstransparency.org/>Â now includes aÂ 
first-of-its-kind dataset 
<http://data.moneypoliticstransparency.org/>Â andseries of case studies 
<http://moneypoliticstransparency.org/casestudies>Â documenting campaign 
finance transparency practices globally. We are also fueling next steps 
for policy advocates through the release of theÂ Declaration on 
Political Finance Openness for public comment 
<http://moneypoliticstransparency.org/declaration>.

Global dissatisfaction with the funding of political parties and 
elections is undeniable. Citizens, advocates, journalists and 
policymakers often voice concerns about the associated risks of 
corruption, undue influence and the potential for abuse of state 
resources that moneyâ€™s role presents. However, our new findings 
substantiate vague anecdotes of corrupt practices and cronyism with a 
rigorous methodology that gives national-level reformers a starting 
point to inform their advocacy efforts. The Campaign Finance Indicators 
systematically assess the regulation and enforcement of political 
finance across 54 diverse countries, while the in-depth comparative case 
studies shed light on ways in which states around the world attempt to 
regulate the role of money in politics, what triggers landmark reforms 
as well as what works, what fails and why. Finally, the MPT Declaration 
builds upon the research components and existing international standards 
for combating corruption to create an affirmative vision for reforming 
political finance systems.

The Campaign Finance Indicators and case studies reveal the following 
key challenges in regulating political finance practices:

  * *Systems of public funding for political parties and elections are
    often unfairly distributed and ripe for abuse.*Â Although public
    funding programs are often employed to prevent political actors from
    relying solely on private sector donors, these systems are often
    inequitably implemented. In 94 percent of the countries researched
    in the Campaign Finance Indicators, political actors deploy state
    resources for electoral gain. Abuses take diverse forms, ranging
    from the relatively mundane (traveling to campaign events in
    state-owned helicopters in Bangladesh) to the dramatic (deploying
    agents of the national intelligence agency in Korea).

  * *Details on how political parties and elections are funded are still
    distressingly opaque.*Despite widespread efforts globally to
    strengthen disclosure requirements, full details on the donations
    and expenditures of political actors are rarely publicly
    available â€” and they are even less likely to be usable. In 96
    percent of the Campaign Finance Indicators sample, there is limited
    or no information on the financial activities of political actors
    made available to the public in a timely fashion, online and in an
    accessible format. In fact, only the U.S. and Australia make all
    reported political finance information available online in
    machine-readable formats.

  * *Scandals can power political finance reform.*Â The cross-national
    evidence shows that rational political parties are responsive to
    corruption scandals and demands of powerful interest groups. Italy,
    for example, had no legislation regarding the funding of political
    parties until 1974, when a scandal generated citizen mistrust and
    the first political finance law was passed in a record 40 days.

  * *Widespread lack of regulation of third-party actors contributes to
    poor oversight and lack of transparency in political finance
    systems.Â *Third-party actors who solicit contributions and make
    expenditures related to electoral campaigns are rarely subject to
    oversight. Only 11 percent of the countries researched in the
    Campaign Finance Indicators regulate the electoral activities of
    nonprofits, unions and independent expenditure groups.

  * *Regulations are only meaningful when there is a capability for
    enforcement â€” which is highly restricted in many
    states.*Â Partisan appointments, insufficient staff and budget, and
    a lack of substantive legal power hinder oversight bodies in
    countries as diverse as the U.S., Romania, Nigeria and Russia, and
    can lead to corruption and imbalanced party competition.

These findings confirm the weighty challenges that lay ahead for the 
political finance reform community (a network that can be found through 
theÂ MPT google group 
<https://groups.google.com/forum/#%21forum/money-politics-transparency>). There 
is much work to be done, but also unlimited potential for progress, and 
a diverse global community dedicated to this issue is essential to 
generating change.

Today, we are also excited to launch the Declaration on Political 
Finance Openness. Itâ€™s intended to build consensus among the interests 
of the community monitoring political finance, uniting CSOs, 
journalists, academics and even civic hackers behind an affirmative 
vision for what we believe a robust, open and accountable political 
finance system looks like. The forthcoming provision commentary will 
also be released this fall alongside the finalized document, which will 
provide background, specific examples and guidance for policymakers. We 
hope that the MPT Declaration will ultimately become a platform that 
advocates can present to political parties and government officials to 
support their campaigns for reform.

We are now opening up the document for a public comment period to ensure 
that the MPT Declaration truly encompasses the widest range of 
perspectives from the global community. We welcome and encourage you to 
provide feedback on the document by commenting on theÂ Money, Politics 
and Transparency web page 
<http://moneypoliticstransparency.org/declaration>. Additionally, if you 
have any questions about the MPT Declaration or would like to share 
comments privately, please direct them to Sunlight International Policy 
Analyst Lindsay Ferris atÂ lferris at sunlightfoundation.com 
<mailto:lferris at sunlightfoundation.com>. We believe that the Declaration 
of Political Finance Openness will only be as strong as the champions 
behind it. We look forward to hearing from you.

-- 
Lindsay Ferris
International Policy Analyst | Sunlight Foundation
202.742.1520 <tel:202.742.1520> (w) | 703.945.3659 <tel:703.945.3659> (m)
Sunlight Foundation <http://sunlightfoundation.com/>Â Sunlight 
Foundation on Facebook 
<http://www.facebook.com/sunlightfoundation>Sunlight Foundation on 
Twitter <http://twitter.com/sunfoundation>OpenGov on Reddit 
<http://www.reddit.com/r/sunlight>Sunlight Foundation on YouTube 
<http://www.youtube.com/sunlightfoundation><http://sunlightfoundation.com/feeds/latest/>

--  Curation :
Diane Mercier, Ph. D.
Docteure en transfert des connaissances
@carnetsDM | dianemercier.quebec
Ambassadrice @OKFNca | ca.okfn.org | lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/okfn-ca
Chercheure associée au LICEF.ca

Suivre ma veille sur le savoir libre - Twitter @carnetsDM
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