The Moral status of corporate political donations and the impact of disclosure

Abstract

Despite the controversy surrounding corporate political donations, many believe that the issues involved can be solved by implementing a relatively simple solution - appropriate disclosure. This study employs contemporary versions of utilitarian and liberal egalitarian moral frameworks to assess the moral status of corporate political donations and determine whether, morally speaking, disclosure makes a difference. The results of this study show that corporate donations have an unfavourable moral status, but surprisingly, not as unfavourable as many would imagine. Furthermore, whilst disclosure is indeed capable of improving moral status, an excessively demanding regime can be detrimental. This study specifies and recommends adopting a system of democratic risk management by strategically allocating public funding in a way that minimises the risk of donor influence and political inequality.

50 page(s)