18
Module 3
Corruption and Comparative Politics
The rst function of political parties, historically, and one of their most important functions to date, is
the coordination between public ofcials and citizens with common political preferences, and thus, in
real terms, between the government and society at large. A second major dening function of political
parties is the conduct of electoral campaigns, and political competition more generally. Parties are
the central participants in elections, responsible for both the candidates and the issues among which
voters will choose. A third major function of parties is recruiting and selecting personnel for both
elected and appointed public ofce. The balance between recruitment (nding someone willing to
do the job) and selection (choosing among multiple aspirants) depends both on the party and the
nature of the positions to be lled. Furthermore, parties perform a variety of functions that may be
classied as representation of social groups and ideological positions. Parties speak and act for their
supporters, in electoral campaigns, the corridors of power and the media, and on other public forums
of discussion (Scarrow, Webb and Poguntke, 2017). Finally, in democratic contexts, political parties are
also responsible for protecting the democracies by restraining the access of non-democratic actors to
the political system. Levitsky and Ziblatt (2018) argue that most of the recent democratic breakdowns
were caused by elected governments and not by military coups or revolutions. Therefore, in order to
keep democracies alive, political parties should refrain from nominating election candidates or getting
into coalitions with other parties that are likely to capture the democratic institutions and abuse them
in authoritarian ways.
Political parties are central actors in many authoritarian and totalitarian regimes. Yet, in these systems,
parties are the means of governing and not a source of power or a channel through which elections
are contested. Studies have demonstrated that political parties in non-democratic systems tend
to be organizationally weak, lacking nancial and grassroots support, as well as the organizational
capability to provide the mobilizational structures necessary for creating social movements against
the regime (Yadav and Mukherjee, 2015). Given the weak ability of opposition parties to mobilize
public opinion and action against the rulers, incumbent autocrats may not feel threatened by such
opposition parties in the legislature in a way that may make them change their rule. As such, even
if opposition parties articulate the public demand for actions to curb corruption and demand that
the regime act accordingly, incumbent regimes may not feel compelled to make costly concessions
on corruption. Thus, the successful articulation of demands to reduce corruption may not result in
serious policy changes. Opposition parties with strong preferences to act on sensitive issues such as
corruption may fear repression by the regime, and attempts could be made to reduce their political
space. A less effective and confrontational opposition will, in turn, reduce the pressure on the regime
to act on corruption, thus leading to less genuine anti-corruption efforts (Yadav and Mukherjee, 2015).
To full their core functions, political parties need appropriate funding and access to media. They need
nancial means to support their campaigns during the election process (campaign nance) and to carry
out their routine activities between elections (routine party funding) (Fischer and Eisenstadt, 2004;
Caramani, 2017). Both campaign nance and routine party funding should be regulated to ensure a
transparent and fair political nancing system; promote accountability; preserve the responsiveness of
political parties and candidates; ensure that all parties have the opportunity to compete in accordance
with the principle of equal opportunity; guarantee the independence of parties from undue influence of
donors; and minimize the danger of corruption, in particular, state capture and influence peddling. In
this regard, article 7(3) of the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) requires States
parties to enhance transparency in the funding of political parties and public ofce candidates. Yet,
there is no consistent practice in this area. While some countries adopt international standards to
regulate and promote transparency of political nance, others do not (Smirnova, 2018).