Federalism and Local Politics in Russia

176 Petr PanovIn addition, the heterogeneity of the regional elites, coupled with anexacerbation of political struggle in the run-up to the 2006 regional elections,and a high degree of uncertainty as regards the current political process – areencouraging those who have access to resources to invest them simultaneouslyin a number of different parties. Investments do not only come in theform of funds for party building but also in the influence entrepreneurs canwield when it comes to providing the regional branch with members (bycoercing employees of the companies owned or controlled by the politicianto join the party). Such a power is of no little significance in light of the newand tougher legislation recently adopted on party membership. 52 In any caseparties are mainly regarded as instruments for promoting particularist interestsof political actors. At the same time, realizing the growing importance ofpolitical parties, regional authorities have begun to more actively influenceand engage in the process of party formation.ConclusionA transition from a non-party mechanism of representation to a party-basedone was underway in the Russian regions in the 2000s. It was largely causedby changes in the institutional context introduced by the Federal Centre. Thenew electoral system has transformed regional actors’ preferences. It ispragmatic, purpose-driven and rationalistic considerations (desire to pushcertain private interests through into the public sphere) that impel regionalpoliticians to actively participate in party formation. Therefore, regionalpolitical representation practices are moving closer towards the ‘party deputiespredominantly representing particularist interests’ model.Russian political parties are obviously much more than mere coalitions ofactors on single issues; they are built on a different foundation from ‘classicalmass parties’ which are traditionally centred on universal political valuesand ideologies. It is particularist interests that are dominant in Russianpolitical parties, and this spurs the latter to develop rather complexmechanisms of intra-party interaction that can be referred to as ‘a system ofpersonalized exchanges’ –a system of political bargaining between influentialactors to coordinate and reconcile particularist interests. By joining aparty and interacting with partners, a political actor expects certain guaranteesregarding their (either personal or collective) interests, and they areready to invest their own resources in the party as long as such guaranteesare in place.We can say with a strong degree of conviction that maintaining the balanceof interests between various actors is an extremely difficult task.Constant reconfiguration and resynchronization of actors makes it critical tohold permanent talks, to negotiate and renegotiate respective contracts. Thismakes political parties insufficiently institutionalized entities.The ‘system of personalized exchanges’ determines both horizontal andvertical functioning of parties. At the regional (horizontal) level inter-party and