Economic resources are central to all types of political organization. Financial support may be of great value for how a political party, a think tank or a social movement can mobilize. At the same time, economic support may have negative consequences. Political actors often prefer to avoid the appearance of being constrained by whoever funds them. At this multidisciplinary conference, we will explore both the negative and positive political implications of financial resources, and the possible interplay between these.

The purpose of the conference is to reflect empirically on the ways in which money (in variying formats) can influence and structure political relations, and to discuss how we may conceptualize the relationship between economic resources and political organization

Money can be used to develop activities in different contexts. In that sense, money can be productive and be drawn upon as a resource for political action in the broad sense. It can also be transformed into other resources. Money as a medium is, however, not neutral. Its disbursement can create leverage and open for dominance over other actors. In political and social movement contexts, this may have several ambivalent or even problematic consequences for recipients' autonomy, legitimacy and power. These consequences may vary according to contexts and the type or form of the actors providing the economic resources. For instance, provision by philanthropists, foreign states, private donors, crowdfunding campaigns and corporations all raise issues for political organizers such as parties, think tanks, civil society associations and social movements.

The funding of political parties is of longstanding interest in political science. Likewise, resource mobilization has been a key perspective for social movement studies and the understanding of civil society. In later years, research interest has also focused on actors such as PR firms, communication bureaus, think tanks, private research foundations, and their relations to funders. Issues such as construction of transparency and autonomy, ambivalent relationships between donors and funders, and the consequences of professionalization, have not been sufficiently studied.

We therefore invite contributions that reflect, discuss, analyze and/or provide empirical explorations of the role of funding for political organization, and the consequences of different forms of funding – or lack thereof – on these actors’ autonomy, legitimacy and political impact. We warmly welcome contributions that vary, for instance, in their coverage of place and types of involved actors (for instance, differences between liberal and illiberal democracies, or between democratic states being more or less corporatist). As, indeed, these contexts vary over time, we also invite historical contributions.

Potential contributions may cover – but are not limited to – the following themes:

• Empirical findings in regard to relations between donors and recipients.
• How do different types of funding affect various types of receivers?
• Variations of issues related to economic resources in relation to type of funders and receivers.
• How have relations between funders and receivers varied over time and place?
• How do donors/funders affect receiving organizations in regard to autonomy, legitimacy and power.
• How may recipients organize to address issues of autonomy, legitimacy and trust ?
• Which strategies do political actors lacking legitimate sources of funding deploy to compensate for their lack of economic resources?
• Variations of issues appearing in different contexts (e.g. time and space).
• Theoretical perspectives and the conceptualization of the relation between financial resources and political organizing.
  
  

Organizing committee:

Associate Professor Nicholas Aylott

Professor Karl Magnus Johansson

Doctor Jenny Madestam

Associate Professor Zhanna Kravchenko

Associate Professor Adrienne Sörbom

Associate Professor Magnus Wennerhag

Participation in the conference is free of charge. Travels and lodging will however not be reimbursed.

Timeline:
Abstracts January 15, 2019
Paper acceptance notice February 15, 2019
Final paper May 2, 2019
Conference May 17, 2019

Send papers to: cpo@sh.se

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