Editing Political party (section)

===Sources of party funds===
[[File:The Bosses of the Senate by Joseph Keppler.jpg|thumb|upright=1|left|Campaign finance restrictions may be motivated by the perception that excessive or secretive contributions to political parties will make them beholden to people other than the voters.]]
Common sources of party funding across countries include dues-paying party members, advocacy groups and lobbying organizations, corporations, trade unions, and candidates who may self-fund activities.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Brad |last=Alexander |title=Good Money and Bad Money: Do Funding Sources Affect Electoral Outcomes? |journal=Political Research Quarterly |volume=58 |issue=2 |pages=353–358 |date=June 2005 |doi=10.2307/3595635|jstor=3595635 }}</ref> In most countries, the government also provides some level of funding for political parties.<ref name=fisher04/><ref name=levush16>{{cite web |url=https://www.loc.gov/law/help/campaign-finance-regulation/comparative.php |title=Regulation of Campaign Finance and Free Advertising |publisher=[[Library of Congress]] |date=March 2016 |first=Ruth |last=Levush |access-date=22 January 2021 |archive-date=27 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210227220849/https://www.loc.gov/law/help/campaign-finance-regulation/comparative.php |url-status=live }}</ref> Nearly all of the 180 countries examined by the [[International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance]] have some form of public funding for political parties, and about a third have regular payments of government funds that goes beyond campaign reimbursements.<ref name=idea>{{cite web |url=https://www.idea.int/data-tools/question-view/548 |title=Are there provisions for direct public funding to political parties? |publisher=[[International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance]] |access-date=23 January 2021 |archive-date=25 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210125161140/https://www.idea.int/data-tools/question-view/548 |url-status=live }}</ref> In some countries, public funding for parties depends on the size of that party: for example, a country may only provide funding to parties which have more than a certain number of candidates or supporters.<ref name=idea/> A common argument for public funding of political parties is that it creates fairer and more democratic elections by enabling more groups to compete, whereas many advocates for private funding of parties argue that donations to parties are a form of political expression that should be protected in a democracy.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Completed_Inquiries/em/political%20funding/Report/Chapter3 |title=Report of the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters |publisher=Parliament of Australia |date=9 December 2011 |access-date=22 January 2021 |archive-date=29 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210129093924/https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Completed_Inquiries/em/political%20funding/Report/Chapter3 |url-status=live }}</ref> Public financing of political parties may decrease parties' pursuit of funds through corrupt methods, by decreasing their incentive to find alternate sources of funding.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Marcus |last=Meitzner |title=Party Financing in Post-Soeharto Indonesia: Between State Subsidies and Political Corruption |journal=Contemporary Southeast Asia |volume=29 |issue=2 |pages=238–263 |date=August 2007 |jstor=25798830 |s2cid=154173938}}</ref>

One way of categorizing the sources of party funding is between public funding and private funding. Another dichotomy is between plutocratic and grassroots sources; parties which get much of their funding from large corporations may tend to pursue different policies and use different strategies than parties which are mostly funded through small donations by individual supporters.<ref name=scarrow07>{{cite journal |first=Susan E. |last=Scarrow |title=Political Finance in Comparative Perspective |journal=Annual Review of Political Science |volume=10 |pages=193–210 |date=15 June 2007 |doi=10.1146/annurev.polisci.10.080505.100115|doi-access=free }}</ref> Private funding for political parties can also be thought of as coming from internal or external sources: this distinguishes between dues from party members or contributions by candidates, and donations from entities outside of the party like non-members, corporations, or trade unions.<ref name=scarrow07/> Internal funding may be preferred because external sources might make the party beholden to an outside entity.<ref name=scarrow07/>