The funding of political parties is a contentious issue. Donations to political parties have coincided with much scandal and various reforms. With elections in the UK and Canada in 2015 and the 2016 US presidential election looming, it is a good opportunity to consider these issues by reviewing this work. Whilst the book is an interdisciplinary collection of articles from academics around the world, it is primarily focused on party funding in the UK. The most important development here has been the enactment of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 (PPERA), amended by PPERA 2009. This introduced spending limits and disclosure requirements. However, this is only one element, albeit a critical one, in an area that is often changing.

The book performs a number of ambitious functions which provide a unique and thought-provoking insight into the laws and principles underlying party funding. Divided into five parts, it considers the role of contribution caps, spending limits, the role of other actors, lessons from abroad, and state funding. Its ambition lies in its scope; the articles cover a breadth of issues across a number of jurisdictions including the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the US. Whilst this came at a cost of sacrificing depth on each issue, it is clear that the aim of the book is to provide an overview of party funding as of the date of publication: “Where Now?” in the title aptly reflects this. The struggle between guaranteeing freedom of speech and regulating party affairs to avoid corrupting democratic systems is one theme that runs prominently throughout.

The editors contribute one article each to Part 1 on “The Role of Contribution Caps”. Rowbottom considers contribution caps on institutional donors giving to political parties. He focuses on the role that companies, trade unions, and associations may play in a reformed funding system in the UK. He is most sympathetic to trade unions, as he believes they provide an alternative approach of political parties engaging with the public directly. He argues that this should be acceptable so long as they do not run counter to democratic goals of the system. Ultimately, he believes that future reform should allow some institutions to make larger donations, as long as they conform to democratic goals. Tham provides an Australian perspective on the argument that trade unions should be exempt from limits on their affiliation fees. This leads to arguments that are supportive of trade unions on the basis of freedom of political association. As a result, his recommendations for reform are limited, the main recommendation being that unions ought to seek specific authorisation from their members before making political contributions to parties. Unfortunately, this ignores the nature of the problem – that parties are perceived to be too heavily influenced by unions, especially when they are in government and should represent the interests of the country. Ewing is at pains to highlight the internal democratic nature of unions and the heavy regulatory burden they face. He takes issue with the potential of the state dictating certain forms of affiliation with unions. The question is the point at which state intervention becomes too intrusive. He believes that Labour Party leaderships are too controlling and that unions are a source of countervailing power and pressure. Ewing does not address whether parties could be restructured to have better internal democratic mechanisms, rather than having two powerful bases within one party dictating affairs. Indeed he does not consider unions to be a “power base”, noting that they provide “inchoate, incomplete and untidy channels of democratic accountability”. Yet this understates the power and influence of trade unions. They are the largest donors to the Labour Party and their members go on to fill powerful positions in Parliament and society. Overall, Part 1 raises important questions about how to balance donations and the regulation of party affairs. More could have been said about the leadership of trade unions and their influence on the political system.

Part 2 considers the role of spending limits. Ewing and Rowbottom write about regulatory spending controls. It is unfortunate that the book was written prior to the enactment of the Transparency of Lobbying, Non-party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Act 2014. Ewing and Rowbottom advocate controls on “ominous” third-party spending in their chapter – something which has seen change under the new act. Nevertheless, this does not diminish the importance of other issues raised. For example, they highlight the dubious role of think tanks which are not subject to the law in the same way as third parties. Finally, they raise the much neglected area of online campaigning and registration thresholds. Here, they find that whilst regulation focuses on expenditure, it is actually donations that have given rise to most controversy. This is unsurprising, as donations are uncomfortable terrain for political parties. Pattie and Johnston provide a focused analysis of spending limits at a local level. There is no regulation of local parties under the PPERA 2000 or 2009, only of candidates. They believe this should be rectified as there is a growing importance of local campaigning whereby there is a clear link between the intensity of local campaigning and the success of parties. Fisher builds on this issue by conducting an analysis of the 1992, 1997, 2001, and 2005 elections. He argues that regulation of constituency spending is necessary, but should not be excessive, so as not to create a barrier to participation. Furthermore, he highlights the problem of data not adequately capturing long-term spending outside of the regulated election period. This is particularly problematic, as it is controversial. Indeed, it raises the issue of whether there should be limits on spending outside of the current period.

Part 3 considers the role of other actors such as the press and regulators. Geddis investigates the role of the media in elections. He argues that they should be regulated because they can control and influence the public. He is also wary of “free speech” arguments, as a diverse speech market of private broadcasters does not necessarily equate to democratic health. Such observations recognise the powerful interests that influence media output behind the scenes. Ghaleigh's analysis of the role of regulators finds that the Electoral Commission has been too unresponsive in its approach to regulation. This is because the PPERA is overly complex and had failings in its regulatory scope. Palmer concludes Part 3 by assessing the legal challenges to political finance and election laws. Palmer intriguingly suggests that the UK approach, banning political advertising, could be vulnerable to a challenge under Article 10 ECHR protecting freedom of expression. Whilst UK case law supports a ban, European case law does not agree to the extent of prohibition found in the UK. This is an area that could be particularly contentious should new party funding laws be created in the future.

The book broadens its scope in Part 4 to consider lessons from abroad. An analysis of party funding in Europe is provided by Biezen, who touches on the familiar theme of tensions between free speech and regulating parties. In Europe, there is extensive legislation on political parties, yet Biezen finds the empirical or normative dimensions of this have received little scholarly attention. She also finds a gap in the literature documenting the precise dimensions of the relationship between parties and the state, now that parties have dwindling membership numbers. The role of public funding is key in Central, Eastern, and Southern European countries. In other countries, such as Russia and Bulgaria, it is merely symbolic. She concludes that modern party democracy has effectively become a service provided by the Government to its citizens. This would suggest that the state has an interest in regulating the affairs of parties and Bizen's insights would thus sit uncomfortably with those of Ewing and Tham, who are wary of state regulation of union affairs. Feasby reveals that Canada has a funding system that seeks to avoid corruption through stricter regulation. The Canadian system of regulation has been considered substantially in the courts which have reinforced core concepts of party funding regulation whilst balancing them against fundamental rights such as free speech. Finally, Hasen discusses the well-publicised issues relating to campaign financing of presidential elections in the US. He arrives at the unconvincing conclusion that micro-donations to candidates through online donations ensure that the amount of potential corruption from large donations remains low. Whilst this could be true at the state level, it runs contrary to the fact that micro-donors have very little influence on most policy at the federal level. Federal policy is dominated by wealthy individuals who can meet and influence candidates. Furthermore, Hasen focuses only on quid pro quo corruption, when other literature considers the wider problem of dependency corruption. It was also disappointing that he found it “too difficult to answer” whether current arrangements in the US are more or less egalitarian than in the past. If such “egalitarian” ideals are to be judged by their success in establishing a true representative democracy, then the answer is clear – that there is not much equality, particularly at the federal level. Indeed, Feasby notes that the US devalues the importance of equality.

In Part 5, Orr strongly argues that public funding should not lead to regulation of the internal affairs of political parties, except for aspects of their financial accountability. This does not go as far as the arguments of Rowbottom in Part 1, who moves beyond “financial accountability” to argue that “democratic goals” should be met when considering regulation of institutions. Orr diverges from Rowbottom, taking the view that going beyond financial accountability may hinder competition between parties by restricting them from experimenting with different constitutions, ideologies, and forms of internal management. This is an important aspect of party funding that requires more research. On justiciability and anti-discrimination law, Orr asks how a liberal state can justify giving resources to support parties which are inherently discriminatory in their selection of candidates. He reasons that this only becomes a problem when parties are in a position to wield power and so discrimination laws should apply only when they are in a position to govern. This is a novel concept which he admits runs contrary to the principle of the “rule of law”. It is difficult to envisage how it could apply in practice, but his theoretical underpinning is logical. Small groups representing certain interests in society are good for democracy; this may not be the case when they are in a position to govern and only represent their narrow interests to the detriment of the many. Orr could have considered the purpose of party funding in more depth. He states that the “ultimate aim of state aid can be compendiously described under the rubric of ‘clean elections’” (p. 256) but focusing on “elections” ignores fundraising outside of an election period. This is also important, and it would have provided a more thorough analysis had it been considered. However, Orr's piece is thought-provoking and pushes the debate into new territory.

Overall, the book provides an intriguing overview of the current laws and contentious issues in political party funding. Two important constitutional issues arise. The first is the funding of parties and the second is the freedom of speech and association. These raise complex questions about how a reformed party funding system might look. It is clearly a matter where consensus is difficult to achieve but there is at least consensus that there should be reform. One disappointment of the book is that no article considered the Bribery Act 2010 and how it may sit alongside future party funding reform. That aside, it is an excellent source for quickly and concisely understanding the main issues and debates surrounding party funding prior to the upcoming elections in 2015 and 2016 at home and abroad.