This article addresses the tension between a constraining governance environment and the reforms that have to be put in place for the success of anti-corruption drives in the campaign finance system. Windows of opportunity for changes occasionally open up through significant breakthroughs are limited to a certain point. It is important to acknowledge that the institutional weaknesses of the state, the concentration of vested interests, and the extent of what the institutional economics literature describes as "state capture", will work as powerful brakes on various government initiatives, eroding their effectiveness and sustainability. Government programs thus should be crafted around realistic "litmus tests" that recognize the qualifying factors in such environments.
