Buying Democracy: Rise Of Super PACs And Its Implications For Electoral Democracy In The United States

Officially known as independent-expenditure only committees, super PACs areoutside groups that are allowed to raise unlimited amount of political contributionsand spend unlimited amount of money on campaigns for or against certain politicalcandidates as long as they do not coordinate with any candidate or political party.Rising out of two milestone court rulings back in2010, super PACs quickly came intothe centre of controversy after becoming a major force in the2012presidentialelections. With a detailed case study of the Colbert Super PAC, this thesis seeks toreview the advent and rise of super PACs in the context of American campaignfinance reform, before reaching the conclusion that super PACs are the rational buttroubling product of the American political campaign system, and its existence strikesat the heart the American democracy.