Electoral Machines

Politics, Corruption, and Campaign Finance

Oct 29, 2015

Overview

This seminar will explore the role of money in the political process, focusing in particular on how different campaign finance mechanisms facilitate and/or hinder the authentic expression of democratic will. Questions to be addressed include:

What is political corruption? How does it manifest itself today through the two-party electoral system?

How have monetary and electoral systems shaped each other throughout history?

What is the appropriate relationship between the money power and representative democracy?

Core Resources

The Anti-Corruption Principle

Teachout, Zephyr. “The Anti-Corruption Principle.” Cornell Law Review (2009).

the_anti-corruption_principle.pdf

Facts In Exile: Corruption And Abstraction In Citizens United V. Federal Election Commission

Teachout, Zephyr. “Facts in Exile: Corruption and Abstraction in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.” Loyola University Chicago Law Journal. 42 (2011).

facts_in_exile__corruption_and_abstraction_in__i_citizens_united.pdf

Party Competition And Industrial Structure In The 2012 Elections

Ferguson, Thomas, Paul Jorgensen, and Jie Chen. “Party Competition and Industrial Structure in the 2012 Elections.” International Journal of Political Economy. 42 (2013).

ferguson_jorgensen_chen_intl_journal_of_pol_econ_2013.pdf

How Money Drives US Congressional Elections: More Evidence

Ferguson, Thomas, Paul Jorgensen, and Jie Chen. How Money Drives US Congressional Elections: More Evidence.” Institute for New Economic Thinking Annual Conference. 2015.

how-money-drives-us-congressional-elections-more-evidence.pdf

How The Federal Reserve Fights

Stoller, Matthew How the Federal Reserve Fights. Naked Capitalism, 2011.