This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts covered in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book looks at the issue of political finance, incorporating both campaign finance and party funding, through the twin lenses of democratic consolidation and anti-corruption concerns. Many international donor organizations have placed their hopes in the anti-corruption activities of NGOs. The book reads as an account of the diverse sets of problems political finance regulation has experienced in Eastern Europe in the ten or so years since the start of the reforms. USAID contractors have so far focused predominantly on transparency issues regarding political finance. The book presents a case study of the legal regulation and the practice of political funding in an East European country. It discusses mainly campaign finance, while others explore the issue of party funding, although it is often difficult to distinguish between these two areas.