The article discusses the factors that influenced the formation of models of financing political parties in Europe. Since the formation of the two types of political parties -cadre and mass -for the first the main source of funding were private donations, while for the secondentrance and membership fees. In this connection, mass parties were interested in maximizing the number of members. In began in the mid-twentieth century the global crisis of political parties as socio-political institution

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... loss of confidence in parties was accompanied by a significant reduction in the number of their members, and this has led to a reduction of income in the form of entrance and membership fees. In order to prevent the threat of political parties becoming dependent on large donors, public funding of parties is being introduced in Europe. The growth of its volumes led to the formation of three models of party funding -public funding, which is currently the predominant, private funding and a balanced model.