CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2008
| Author | Lubenova, Emilia Alexandrova |
|---|---|
| Title | Financing Politics - A Comparative Analysis of Bulgaria and Hungary |
| Summary | This master thesis investigates the relationship between money and politics. The research is based on the comparative analysis of Bulgaria and Hungary and it focuses on political parties’ financial channels. According to the legal basis, the two countries should differ in terms of major sources of contributions – for the Bulgarian case these should be private donations whereas for the Hungarian – public subsidies. The thesis gives evidence that parties from both states are mainly financed by the private sector but the way this happens is different – in Bulgaria entrepreneurs and corporations contribute directly, while in Hungary they do this through powerful party foundations. As in both examples donors have to comply with legal and moral norms and bans, the real size of contributions remains hidden. However, it is still possible for voters and experts by observing the expensive campaigns to be aware of the illegal financial practices of parties. Thus, the big size of contributions and their unclear origin limit the electoral success of political actors and they are not able to reach their maximal level of potential. In the same time, if parties respect the official norms they wouldn’t be able to organize their campaigns. The result is a vicious circle that can only be broken be legal reforms in the field of political funding. |
| Supervisor | Hancké, Robert C. M. |
| Department | Political Science MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2008/lubenova_emilia.pdf |
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