Questions over the motivation and effect of financial contributions to political parties and candidates have been a constant source of contention in western democracies, but difficulties accessing reliable data have constrained research in this area in the UK.
This project makes use of the extensive but relatively little studied records of political donations in the UK reported to the Electoral Commission since its creation in 2001 to provide the first systematic assessment of the characteristics of large individual and corporate donors to political parties across the whole period.
Principal investigator
Professor Jonathan Hopkin
Professor of Comparative Politics
Researchers
- Max Kiefel
- Alberto Parmigiani
Project details
Project duration: 1.6 years
Project funder: British Academy