Why Not Parties in Russia? : Democracy, Federalism, and the State

Russia Poses A Major Puzzle For Theorists Of Party Development. Virtually Every Classic Work Takes Parties To Be Inevitable And Essential To Electoral Competition, But Russia Remains Highly Nonpartisan More Than Fifteen Years After Gorbachev First Launched His Democratizing Reforms. The Problem Is That Theories Of Party Development Lack A Control Case, Almost Always Focusing On Cases Where Parties Have Already Developed And Almost Never Examining Countries Where Independent Politicians Are The Norm. This Book Focuses On Russia As Just Such A Control Case. It Mobilizes Fresh Public Opinion Surveys, Interviews With Leading Russian Politicians, Careful Tracking Of Multiple Campaigns, And Analysis Of National And Regional Voting Patterns To Show Why Russia Stands Out. Russia's Historically Influenced Combination Of Federalism And Superpresidentialism, Coupled With A Postcommunist Redistribution Of Resources To Regional Political Machines And Oligarchic Financial-industrial Groups, Produced And Sustained Powerful Party Substitutes That Have Largely Squeezed Russia's Real Parties Out Of The Electoral Market, Damaging Russia's Democratic Development.--jacket. Electoral Markets And Russia's Political Smorgasbord -- Party Entrepreneurship In Russia's Electoral Market 1989--2004 -- How Much Party Is In The Party System? -- Electoral Markets And Party Substitutes In Russia : Origins And Impact -- Parties And Party Substitutes : Determining The Balance -- Conclusion : The Market Model And Theories Of Parties, National Integration, And Transitions From Authoritarian Rule. Henry E. Hale. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 249-263) And Index. Cover......Page 1 Half-title......Page 3 Title......Page 5 Copyright......Page 6 Dedication......Page 7 Contents......Page 9 Acknowledgments......Page 11 Exceptions Made for People’s Names:......Page 13 1 Electoral Markets and Russia’s Political Smorgasbord......Page 15 the puzzle of stalled party development in russia......Page 17 political science and party system development......Page 21 electoral markets: the politics of supply and demand......Page 23 The Market Basics of Party Formation......Page 24 A Market Explanation for Party Origins and Survival......Page 25 Political Capital......Page 26 Strategy and Contingency......Page 29 Lasting Effects of Initial Outcomes......Page 31 A Market Explanation for Party System Development......Page 32 Party Substitutes and Party Systems......Page 33 The Party-Party Substitute Balance as the Key to Explaining Party System Development......Page 34 the russian case and comparative theory: how the volume unfolds......Page 36 2 Party Entrepreneurship in Russia’s Electoral Market 1989–2005......Page 40 russia’s legacy of patrimonial communism......Page 41 creating the institutional rules of the game in russia 1989–2005......Page 43 Federal Institutions of the First Republic......Page 44 Federal Institutions of the Second Republic......Page 45 Regional Electoral Institutions......Page 48 Institutions: Summing Up......Page 50 starting political capital at the launch of russia’s second republic......Page 51 explaining initial party survival: capital, strategy, contingency......Page 59 Civic Union......Page 60 Russian Movement for Democratic Reforms (RDDR)......Page 61 Sergei Shakhrai’s Party of Russian Unity and Accord (PRES)......Page 62 The Democratic Party of Russia......Page 64 The Agrarian Party of Russia......Page 65 Women of Russia......Page 67 Russia’s Choice, Russia’s Democratic Choice, and the Union of Right Forces......Page 68 Yabloko......Page 72 The Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF)......Page 76 The Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR)......Page 81 Party Upstarts: Trying to Crash the Party......Page 84 Our Home is Russia and the Rybkin Bloc......Page 85 Motherland, the Congress of Russian Communities (KRO), and General Lebed’s Parties......Page 87 Fatherland–All Russia......Page 94 Unity......Page 96 United Russia......Page 98 summing up......Page 99 3 How Much Party Is in the Party System?......Page 105 parties in the electorate......Page 106 Voter Knowledge of Parties and Party Stands......Page 107 Voter Loyalties to Parties......Page 108 Bases of Voter Loyalties to Parties......Page 114 The Proportional-Representation (PR) Half of the Duma Elections......Page 121 The Single-Member-District (SMD) Half of the Duma Elections......Page 130 parties and the gubernatorial office......Page 147 parties and regional legislatures......Page 154 conclusion......Page 162 4 Electoral Markets and Party Substitutes in Russia......Page 164 the emergence of party substitutes in russia......Page 165 Soviet Political Ethnicity......Page 166 Soviet Political Economy......Page 167 The Gorbachev Reforms......Page 170 The Yeltsin Reforms......Page 172 The Impact of Legacy and Transition on Electoral Politics......Page 176 Politicized Financial-Industrial Groups (PFIGs)......Page 177 Regional Political Machines......Page 180 parties, party substitutes, and imperfect electoral markets......Page 187 parties, party substitutes, and voting patterns......Page 191 SMD Duma Elections......Page 192 Legislative Assembly Elections......Page 200 Gubernatorial Elections......Page 204 presidential elections......Page 207 conclusion......Page 209 5 Parties and Party Substitutes......Page 211 paths to a fully party system: the ideational-capital-driven path......Page 212 paths to a fully party system: the administrative-capital-driven path......Page 218 The Russian Presidency and Parties......Page 219 Politicized Financial-Industrial Groups and Parties......Page 223 Governors and Parties......Page 225 fatherland–all russia’s challenge and the kremlin’s response of unity......Page 229 Fatherland: Initial Failures......Page 230 Fatherland’s Breakthrough: All Russia and the Primakov Factor......Page 233 The Kremlin Strikes Back: The Rise of Unity......Page 236 De-Focalization: The Mass Media Assault......Page 237 Counter-Focalization: The Grooming of Mr. Putin......Page 238 The Apartment Bombings of September 1999 and the New Invasion of Chechnya......Page 239 A Decoy Party: The Founding of the Unity Bloc......Page 240 scared straight: the rise of united russia and putin’s party reforms......Page 242 From Unity to United Russia......Page 244 Putin’s Party System Reforms......Page 245 conclusion......Page 247 6 Conclusion......Page 249 the puzzle of russia in comparative perspective......Page 250 the market model and theories of party system development......Page 253 the market model and theories of national integration......Page 256 the market model, democracy, and autocracy......Page 258 References......Page 263 Index......Page 279

Russia poses a major puzzle for theorists of party development. Virtually every classic work takes parties to be inevitable and essential to electoral competition, but Russia remains highly nonpartisan more than fifteen years after Gorbachev first launched his democratizing reforms. The problem is that theories of party development lack a "control case," almost always focusing on cases where parties have already developed and almost never examining countries where independent politicians are the norm. This book focuses on Russia as just such a control case. It mobilizes fresh public opinion surveys, interviews with leading Russian politicians, careful tracking of multiple campaigns, and analysis of national and regional voting patterns to show why Russia stands out. Russia's historically influenced combination of federalism and "superpresidentialism," coupled with a postcommunist redistribution of resources to regional political machines and "oligarchic" financial-industrial groups, produced and sustained powerful "party substitutes" that have largely squeezed Russia's real parties out of the "electoral market,” damaging Russia’s democratic development.

Russia poses a major puzzle for theorists of democracy: virtually every classic work takes parties to be inevitable and essential to democracy, but Russia has remained highly nonpartisan more than 15 years since Gorbachev first launched his democratizing reforms. The problem is that theories of democracy lack a 'control case', almost always focusing on cases where parties have already developed and almost never examining countries where independent politicians are the norm. This book focuses on Russia as just such a control case. It mobilizes fresh public opinion surveys, interviews with Russian politicians, careful tracking of campaigns, and analysis of national and regional voting patterns to show why Russia stands out. Russia's historically influenced combination of federalism and 'superpresidentialism', coupled with a postcommunist redistribution of resources to regional political machines and 'oligarchic' financial-industrial groups, produced and sustained powerful 'party substitutes' that have squeezed Russia's real parties out of the 'electoral market. -- Publisher's Description Russia poses a major puzzle for theorists of party development. Whereas virtually every classic work takes political parties to be inevitable and essential to democracy, Russia has been dominated by non-partisan politicians ever since communism collapsed. This 2006 book mobilizes fresh public opinion surveys, interviews with leading Russian politicians, careful tracking of multiple campaigns, and analysis of national and regional voting patterns to show why Russia stands out. Russia's historically influenced combination of federalism and super-presidentialism, coupled with a post-communist redistribution of resources to regional political machines and oligarchic financial-industrial groups, produced and sustained powerful party-substitutes that have largely squeezed Russia's real parties out, damaging Russia's democratic development. Electoral markets and Russia's political smorgasbord Party entrepreneurship in Russia's electoral market 1989 2004 How much party is in the party system? Electoral markets and party substitutes in Russia : origins and impact Parties and party substitutes : determining the balance Conclusion : the market model and theories of parties, national Integration, and transitions from authoritarian rule. It brings the case of Russia to bear on theories of democracy. Whereas virtually every classic work takes political parties to be inevitable and essential to democracy, Russia has been dominated by nonpartisan politicians ever since communism collapsed. This book demonstrates why Russia stands out as a preserve of nonpartisanship Whereas virtually every classic work on the theory of party development takes political parties to be inevitable and essential to democracy, Russia has been dominated by non-partisan politicians ever since communism collapsed. This book demonstrates why Russia stands out as a preserve of non-partisanship.