[Okfn-ca] Fwd: [open-government] New research and resources from the Money, Politics and Transparency project
Diane Mercier, Ph.D.
diane at dianemercier.quebec
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, the 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 money’s troubling role in political parties and
election campaigns globally.
Our revamped 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 the 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 money’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 — 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. *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 — 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
the 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. It’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 the 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 at 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
et consignée dans zotero.org/dmercier
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