ABSTRACT
The Russian parliament is generally considered to be of post-Soviet origin, characterised by fractious, often unruly behaviour on the part of politicians languishing in irrelevance amidst Russia’s ‘strong-presidential’ form of political system. Typical is the comment, written in the wake of the 2003 elections for the lower house of Russia’s parliament, the Duma, by Andrew Kuchins, a Russia specialist at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: ‘But let’s face it, the Duma does not matter that much in Russia’s super-presidential system anyway.’ 1
