
Why Not Parties in Russia?
Democracy, Federalism, and the State
Henry E. Hale(Author)
Cambridge University Press
Published on 5. December 2005
Book
Hardback
288 pages
978-0-521-84409-3 (ISBN)
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 book mobilizes 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.
Reviews / Votes
'Hale's book is an important contribution to the field. It is ambitious, intelligent, well-researched and rigorous. It contains significant primary research and is the fullest attempt to theorise party-system development in Russia and to locate it in the comparative literature thus far.' Europe-Asia Studies '... the substance of Henry E. Hale's detailed, scrupulously researched and engagingly written study is likely to be consulted for a long time to come. It makes key empirical and theoretical contributions to the study of Russian politics from a wide range of sources ... this rich volume will remain pivotal for understanding Russian politics, perhaps even after Putin himself no longer remains so.' Luke March, University of EdinburghMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
28 Tables, unspecified
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 157 mm
Thickness: 22 mm
Weight
622 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-521-84409-3 (9780521844093)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
01/2006
1st Edition
Cambridge University Press
€38.49
Available for download
Person
Henry E. Hale (PhD Harvard University, Massachusetts, 1998, AB Duke University, North Carolina, 1988) is an Assistant Professor of political science at George Washington University, Washington DC, where he researches and writes on political parties, elections, federalism, and ethnic politics with a focus on the cases of the former Soviet region, especially Russia, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. Many of the leading journals in comparative politics and post-communist studies have published his work, including the British Journal of Political Science, Comparative Politics, Comparative Political Studies, Europe-Asia Studies, Perspectives on Politics, Post-Soviet Affairs and World Politics. His research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, and the National Council for Eurasian and East European Research. Before moving to George Washington University, he taught at Indiana University.
Content
1. Electoral markets and Russia's political smorgasboard; 2. Party entrepreneurship in Russia's electoral market, 1989-2004; 3. How much party is in the party system?; 4. Electoral markets and party substitutes in Russia: origins and impact; 5. Parties and party substitutes: determining the balance; 6. Conclusion: the market model and theories of parties, national integration, and transitions from authoritarian rule.