ABSTRACT
The transformation of regimes in the communist world has had enormous consequences for the peoples of those countries and for the balance of power in the world. A successful outcome of the transition in Russia, by the same token, will affect the processes of regime change that are still continuing in many of the former communist states. The health of a competitive party system in Russia is critical to the character of its politics. Although there is general agreement on the importance of a party system for democratic consolidation, scholars debate what most influences a party system's formation and development. A different set of political problems shaped the formation of Russia's federalism but like those structuring the party system, they include both power and policy motivations. Federalism in the Soviet Union was largely a device for accommodating ethnic-national minority groups within the Soviet state, and existed largely as an organizational formality.
