developed in numerous other nations around the world. These trends have been accompanied by increasingly more energetic and sophisti­ cated attempts at comparative analysis. Problems in transnational studies of political processes have always been formidable. The comparative study of political finance has been retarded by difficulties in defining units of analysis that make it possible to identify in some measurable way the effects of political fmance in precise phases of the governing process, e. g. , in the per­ suasion of voters, in party nominating processes, in executive decision­ making. Cash transactions, even when known with confidence, consti­ tute only a partial aspect of political finance. Other shades of economic power may be equally relevant, involving services or goods directly provided, credits and other economic benefits extended or withheld, and the exercise of less tangible but equally potent influence.