ABSTRACT

Since the early 1940s it has been almost universally assumed that the study of political parties is virtually a prerequisite to a realistic understanding of the problems of democracy, both in theory and in action (Leiserson, 1967). As Richard Katz (1980: 1) has put it, ‘modern democracy is party democracy’. Hence it is only natural to view the lack of party development as a systematic impediment for the ongoing process of regime change in Russia (Fish, 1995; Golosov, 1998). An important aspect of party underdevelopment in the country is the fact that political parties have failed to emerge as important actors in the vast majority of Russia’s regions. This fact has been empirically established in a number of recent studies, including a comprehensive analysis of party representation in the regional legislative assemblies in 1995-1998 (Golosov, 1999). So far, however, the dynamics of the process have not attracted much scholarly attention.