U.S. Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act Of 2002: Causes And Effects

The U.S. campaign finance system constitutes a vital component of the complex political election system of America. The campaign finance reform has been carried out since the early 1900s, but not until 1970s did the reform begin to exert substantial influence on political elections. This thesis chooses the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA), the latest development of the campaign finance reform as its subject, analyzing the causes of the reform, introducing the process and contents of the reform, and assessing its efficacy. This thesis holds that the reform has historical and institutional causes. Yet, the reform bill had a difficult time for seven years circulating around Congress before it was finally passed thanks to the unveiling of soft money scandals. The major contents of BCRA can be summarized as two aspects, the soft money ban and issue advocacy restriction, which intend to regulate the campaign finance activities of the two major actors of U.S. presidential election, party organizations and interest groups. By assessing the impact of BCRA on party organizations and interest groups with the data of the 2004 and 2008 presidential elections, this thesis argues that in terms of banning party organizations from raising soft money, BCRA is successful, but in terms of curbing the undue influence exerted by special interest groups with soft money, BCRA is a failure. Therefore, it is highly possible that further reform will be carried out.