Chapter 1 Against the Mainstream? : The Impact of Party Regulation on Political Competition in Moldova

Abstract

This book provides a comprehensive overview of the regulation of party finance in post-Soviet countries by leading academics and practitioners in the field. Through a series of cutting-edge chapters, using both original quantitative and qualitative data, it systematically sheds theoretical and empirical light on the way party funding regulation has evolved since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, as well as on the manner in which the legal regulation of party finances has had an impact (or not) on the evolution of party politics and democratic consolidation in the region. The book examines regulation in post-Soviet countries like Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Mongolia, Russia and Ukraine. In analysing the various dimensions of party funding regulation and their impact on political parties, party systems and democracy, it looks at the past and future, and makes recommendations on how legislation could be improved in order to further party development, party system stabilisation and democratic consolidation for all the countries in the region. This book will be of key interest to scholars, students, practitioners and journalists interested in political party finance and anti-corruption, and more broadly to political parties, democracy and democratic governance, and post-Soviet/Russian and East European politics.