CIAO DATE: 02/2010
June 2009
Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies
Notably during election campaigns, donations have become an indispensable part of party finance. The paper analyzes the most controversial part of this form of party finance: donations provided by corporate bodies. The data base comprehends all party donations given by the 100 largest German firms between 1984 and 2005. The readiness to donate, amounts of donations and their distribution among the political parties are being analyzed. Donations are likely to be higher when firms belong to the center of the network of interlocking directorates. Two donation strategies can be distinguished: Sponsorship of the political center-right and donations all over the political spectrum (the so-called landscape conservation strategy). During the observation period, the landscape conservation strategy has gained importance among firms but not among individual persons and employers’ associations. While family-owned firms give comparatively few donations to the SPD, high degrees of employees’ codetermination seem to decrease the likelihood of large donations to CDU/CSU and FDP. Zusammenfassung
Resource link: Parteigänger und Landschaftspfleger: Eine Analyse der Parteispenden großer deutscher Unternehmen, 1984–2005 [PDF] - 1.1M