Interest Groups And Campaign Finance Reform In The United States And Canada

Download or read book Interest Groups and Campaign Finance Reform in the United States and Canada written by Robert G Boatright and published by University of Michigan Press. This book was released on 2011-03-15 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the early 2000s, the United States and Canada implemented new campaign finance laws restricting the ability of interest groups to make political contributions and to engage in political advertising. Whereas both nations' legislative reforms sought to reduce the role of interest groups in campaigns, these laws have had opposite results in the two nations. In the United States, interest groups remained influential by developing broad coalitions aimed at mobilizing individual voters and contributors. In Canada, interest groups largely withdrew from election campaigns, and, thus, important voices in elections have gone silent. Robert G. Boatright explains such disparate results by placing campaign finance reforms in the context of ongoing political and technological changes. Robert G. Boatright is Associate Professor of Political Science at Clark University. Cover photo: © iStockphoto.com / alfabravoalpharomeo