The examples and perspective in this Germany-related article may not represent a worldwide view of the subject.(July 2020) |
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A party political foundation (German : Parteinahe Stiftung or Parteistiftung) in Germany is a state-subsidised political foundation that's affiliated to a political party. There are seven foundations at the federal level: one for each party represented in the federal parliament ( Bundestag ). The major characteristics of all such organizations is that they do party related work like general information about the ideological cause, training of volunteers, publication of pamphlets and international aid for democracy building (in co-operation with partners around the world).
The party political foundations receive 95% of their funding from government grants, thus blurring the definition of 'non-governmental organisation'. All except the FNF and the DES are not legally registered as a 'foundation' but as a private “Verein” under german law. [1]
Similar institutions have also been organized in the Netherlands, Austria, France and Greece. In the U.K. and the U.S. the general setup differs because institutions like the Westminster Foundation for Democracy, the National Democratic Institute (NDI) or the International Republican Institute (IRI) are limited to responsibilities in international aid. The same applies for the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy (NIMD).
Federalism is a mode of government that combines a general government with regional governments in a single political system, dividing the powers between the two. Johannes Althusius is considered the father of modern federalism along with Montesquieu. Althusius notably exposes the bases of this political philosophy in Politica Methodice Digesta, Atque Exemplis Sacris et Profanis Illustrata (1603). In The Spirit of Law, Montesquieu for his part sees examples of federalist republics in corporate societies, the polis bringing together villages, and the cities themselves forming confederations. Federalism in the modern era was first adopted in the unions of states during the Old Swiss Confederacy.
The Marshall Plan was an American initiative enacted in 1948 to provide foreign aid to Western Europe. The United States transferred $13.3 billion in economic recovery programs to Western European economies after the end of World War II. Replacing an earlier proposal for a Morgenthau Plan, it operated for four years beginning on April 3, 1948, though in 1951, the Marshall Plan was largely replaced by the Mutual Security Act. The goals of the United States were to rebuild war-torn regions, remove trade barriers, modernize industry, improve European prosperity and prevent the spread of communism. The Marshall Plan proposed the reduction of interstate barriers and the economic integration of the European Continent while also encouraging an increase in productivity as well as the adoption of modern business procedures.
A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or policy goals.
Open Society Foundations (OSF), formerly the Open Society Institute, is a US-based grantmaking network founded by business magnate George Soros. Open Society Foundations financially supports civil society groups around the world, with the stated aim of advancing justice, education, public health and independent media. The group's name was inspired by Karl Popper's 1945 book The Open Society and Its Enemies.
Campaign finance – also called election finance, political donations, or political finance – refers to the funds raised to promote candidates, political parties, or policy initiatives and referendums. Donors and recipients include individuals, corporations, political parties, and charitable organizations.
A European political party, known formally as a political party at European level and informally as a Europarty, is a type of political party organisation operating transnationally in Europe and within the institutions of the European Union (EU). They are regulated and funded by EU Regulation 1141/2014 on the statute and funding of European political parties and European political foundations, and their operations are supervised by the Authority for European Political Parties and European Political Foundations (APPF).
Arend d'Angremond Lijphart is a Dutch-American political scientist specializing in comparative politics, elections and voting systems, democratic institutions, and ethnicity and politics. He is Research Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of California, San Diego. He is influential for his work on consociational democracy and his contribution to the new Institutionalism in political science.
The Konrad Adenauer Foundation is a German political party foundation associated with but independent of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU). The foundation's headquarters are located in Sankt Augustin near Bonn, as well as in Berlin. Globally, the KAS has 78 offices and runs programs in over 100 countries. Its current chairman is the former President of the German parliament Deutscher Bundestag, Norbert Lammert. It is a member of the Martens Centre, the official foundation and think tank of the European People's Party (EPP). In 2020, it ranked 15th amongst think tanks globally.
Party subsidies or public funding of political parties are subsidies paid by the government directly to a political party to fund some or all of its political activities. Most democracies provide cash grants from taxpayers' money, the general revenue fund, for party activity. Such funds may cover routine or campaign costs incurred by the party. Among the established democracies the United States, Switzerland and India are the most notable exceptions. Party subsidies can be relatively small or quite generous. In the U.S., the Presidential Fund takes money from the general fund only after authorized by a statement indicated upon a taxpayer's tax return.
Carl Joachim Friedrich was a German-American professor and political theorist. He taught alternately at Harvard and Heidelberg until his retirement in 1971. His writings on state and constitutional theory, constitutionalism and government made him one of the world's leading political scientists in the post-World War II period. He is one of the most influential scholars of totalitarianism.
The Caucasus Institute for Peace, Democracy and Development (CIPDD) is a Tbilisi-based think-tank founded in 1992. It is headed by the Georgian political scientist Ghia Nodia. Its main areas of research are: conflict prevention and resolution ; political parties; media, especially regional media; security studies and civil-military relations; local self-government development in Georgia, religious minority and education.
The Allensbach Institute, formally the Allensbach Institute for Public Opinion Research or Allensbach Institute for Public Opinion Polling, is a private polling institute based in Allensbach, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
The ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research in Mannheim is an economic research institute in the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Science Association (WGL). It is headed by President Achim Wambach and Managing Director Claudia von Schuttenbach. According to the RePEc ranking, ZEW is one of the leading European economic research institutes. Currently, ZEW has 189 employees, 115 of whom are scientists.
Political finance covers all funds that are raised and spent for political purposes. Such purposes include all political contests for voting by citizens, especially the election campaigns for various public offices that are run by parties and candidates. Moreover, all modern democracies operate a variety of permanent party organizations, e.g. the Democratic National Committee and the Republican National Committee in the United States or the Conservative Campaign Headquarters, Labour Party Headquarters and Liberal Democrat Headquarters in the United Kingdom. The annual budgets of such organizations will have to be considered as costs of political competition as well. In Europe the allied term "party finance" is frequently used. It refers only to funds that are raised and spent in order to influence the outcome of some sort of party competition. Whether to include other political purposes, e.g. public relation campaigns by lobby groups, is still an unresolved issue. Even a limited range of political purposes indicates that the term "campaign funds" is too narrow to cover all funds that are deployed in the political process.
Party finance in Germany is the subject of statutory reports, which up to 35 parties file annually with the administration of the German parliament. Important questions pertaining to political party funding can be answered by analysing the data given in these financial reports: How much money is raised and spent by each party operating in Germany? What assets are at the disposal, which debts are on the books of German parties? For which purposes did parties spend their funds? From which itemized sources did a specific party collect its revenue? Who are the donors of major contributions and how much did each donor give during a specific calendar year?
Political party funding is a method used by a political party to raise money for campaigns and routine activities. The funding of political parties is an aspect of campaign finance.
The term corporate donation refers to any financial contribution made by a corporation to another organization that furthers the contributor's own objectives. Two major kinds of such donations deserve specific consideration, charitable as well as political donations.
By and large political finance in the Netherlands is a party matter. Compared to other nations the spending level is quite moderate, annually about €2,40 per voter.
Since the 1970s party finance in Sweden on all levels of the political system depends heavily on public subsidies With an estimated SEK 146 per voter a year the spending level is among the highest in the world of established democracies.
The European Partnership for Democracy (EPD) is a membership-based network of not-for-profit organisations that describes its aim as "supporting democracy around the world".