ABSTRACT
In the following analysis, the concept of 'regional party system' is employed to cover any regional effects in party support. Such effects have been detected in almost every national party system,1 and they are especially salient in federations such as America with its 'fifty party systems'.2 Other available examples include a number of states of India,3 Quebec in Canada,4 and several autonomous provinces of Spain.5 Theoretically, it is possible to use Russia as a referent in cross-national comparisons aimed at examining the impact exerted upon party systems by various models of federalism. But, however fruitful such comparisons might turn out to be in the future, they will not be feasible unless a better understanding of processes occurring in Russia's domestic political arenas is attained. This study is comparative in its research design, but the comparative referents we employ
are sub-national units (or, as they are conventionally called in Russia, regions) of the country, not a deliberately selected set of nation states.
