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Abstract

The aim of this dissertation is to answer the research question of, “To what extent does campaign financing and its influence on political power undermine the free and fair election process of representative democracy in the U.S?” This will be answered by investigating the recent history of significant campaign finance reforms and looking into the loopholes that have been exploited by Super PACs and foreign interests with a view to showing that campaign financing in the US undermines its own representative democracy. Drawing on a combination of primary data through statistical collection and investigation and secondary literature around the topic, this analysis considers the constitutionality of campaign finance regulation, it’s theoretical standing in relation to pluralism and founding American values, and how big money uses this as a means of influencing the electoral process.
The arguments presented here assert that the present campaign finance regulation utilises the first amendment protection of free speech in a corrupt and bias fashion, protecting the interests of large corporations, exploiting the constitution in a manner which is damaging to the ordinary U.S voting citizen, and only goes to further maintain the elitist status quo where big business dictates public policy. This project will utilise empirical political theory through analysing and evaluating campaign finance statistics on its influence on political power, whilst examining and critiquing pluralist views on representative democracy, which at present justify it. It will provide a solid empirical foundation to accurately understand how campaign financing influences the interplay between political power and electoral competition through maintaining the fundamental research question of how does political power affect the distribution of campaign contributions, and how does campaign spending affect the distribution of political power through electoral competition?

Course: International Relations - BA (Hons)

Date Deposited: 2022-02-17

URI/permalink: https://library.port.ac.uk/dissert/dis13816.html