Description
Book SynopsisIn this book, the authors use the latest research to explore financial differences across the UK's three main parties in the four years leading up to the 2010 General Election, revealing an unhealthy picture of grassroots party organisation in which the capacity to engage with many voters is concentrated in a few constituencies.
Trade Review"...An interesting new twist on the debate...[Johnston and Pattie] suggest that the poverty of local campaigns is as much a symptom as a cause of democratic malaise, and that while more money would help increase contact between parties and voters, it is not a simple solution to political disengagement." LSE Review of Books Blog
“A timely and forensic examination of one of the hidden corners of the British political system which raises key practical and normative questions about how we do and should pay for democratic politics.” Colin Rallings, Professor of Politics, University of Plymouth
“Debates about political finance are ones that frequently generate much more heat than light. Ron Johnston and Charles Pattie’s rigorous empirical study exposes myths and provides a genuine advance in our understanding of this important area.” Justin Fisher, Professor of Political Science, Brunel University
Table of ContentsIntroduction; Follow the Money: Cash, Party and Electioneering in Britain; Money Matters: Local Campaigns at British General Elections; The Financial Health of Local Parties: the Key to Electoral Success?; Raising the Money: Donations to Local Parties; Party Funding Futures; In Conclusion.
