During the last 25 years, there was a steady increase in the interest of international organisations, legislators, civil society and academia in the financing of political parties. At the same time, many countries around the world have introduced regulations in this area. Indeed, although the scope and nature of regulation varies from country to country, almost every country has now introduced regulations in this area .
The focus in this area is mostly on legislative framework and some high-level international standards. As a result, a well-developed set of structural elements has emerged that form the foundation of any control system for the financing of political parties, which will be analysed in Chapter 1. Chapter 2 also sets out, in addition to the international and national standards, the principles underlying the objectives to be achieved for the control of political party financing.
Chapter 3 provides practical information on how to develop a strong legislative framework for the political party funding system.