On the predominance of state money: Reassessing party financing in the new democracies of Southern and Eastern Europe

This article looks at the patterns of party financing in the relatively recently established democracies of Southern and Eastern Europe, with a particular emphasis on the relative importance of the state and society as financial contributors to political parties. Our reassessment of the practice of party financing in these new democratic polities shows that public funding has become a critical source of income in all of the democracies considered here. However, the article also shows that the importance of public money does not unequivocally rule out the relevance of society. Rather than through membership subscriptions, however, society seems to have acquired a special relevance as an illicit source of party financing. We argue that money accrued from corrupt sources may nevertheless reinforce rather than counterbalance the parties’ overall dependence on and orientation towards the state, especially since illicit financing tends to be most profitable for government parties in exploiting the spoils of office. We also argue that the predominance of state money may act to freeze the status quo of the party system and hence achieve a sense of stability that may otherwise be difficult to achieve in the context of relatively vulnerable party organisations and unstable party systems.