Federalism and Local Politics in Russia

The problem of effective representation 18117 It is worth noting that some American researchers disagree with the view thatcongressmen can be regarded as independent actors. G. Cox and M. McCubbins,on the contrary, argue that it is the party system that plays a decisive role in thefunctioning of the US Congress, see G. Cox and M. McCubbins, LegislativeLeviathan: Party Government in the House, Berkeley, CA: University of CaliforniaPress, 1993.18 R. Katz and P. Mair, ‘Changing models of party organization and party democracy:the emergence of the cartel party’, Party Politics, Vol. 1, No. 1, 1995, pp. 5–28.19 J. Schumpeter, Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy, London: Allen and Unwin,1943.20 Since the completion of this research the number of federal subjects has fallen to 83.21 Regional legislatures are also referred to as legislative assemblies or dumas, and ina number of regions the old term ‘council’ has been retained.22 Deviations from the ‘normal cycles’ in some regions are described in theAppendix.23 Furthermore, final and comprehensive election results are unavailable in someregions.24 G. Golosov, ‘Electoral systems and party formation in Russia: a cross-regionalanalysis’, Comparative Political Studies, Vol. 36, No. 8, 2003, pp. 912–35.25 M. Duverger, Political Parties: Their Organization and Activities in the ModernState, London: Methuen, 1954.26 A. Lijphart (ed.), Electoral Systems and Party Systems: A Study of Twenty-SevenDemocracies, 1945–1990, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994; R. Taageperaand M. Shugart, Seats and Votes: The Effects and Determinants of ElectoralSystems, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1989.27 See, for example, V. Gel'man, S. Ryzhenkov and M. Brie, Making and BreakingDemocratic Transitions: The Comparative Politics of Russia’s Regions, Lanham,MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2003.28 At times such groups were formalized into so-called ‘deputy groups’ which areessentially ‘non-party factions’.29 A. Steen and V. Gel'man (eds), Elites and Democratic Development in Russia,London and New York: Routledge, 2003.30 Quite often politicians running for political office will seek to conceal their partyaffiliation, and will run as ‘independent’ candidates.31 In some cases such as St Petersburg, Altai Krai and Novosibirsk Oblast there areother factors at work which explain the high party saturation of their legislatures.32 A number of regions have a much smaller number of deputies elected by PR. InKaliningrad Oblast only 5 of the 32 deputies were elected in this way. Koryak andUst-Ordynskii Buryatskii autonomous okrugs used the mixed system only in thesecond cycle of elections (4 out of 12, and 4 out of 19 respectively, were elected onthe basis of proportionality). In addition, three regions (Saratov Oblast, Republicof Tyva and Republic of Marii El) used PR in the first round of elections butsubsequently abandoned it.33 E. S. Herron and M. Nishikawa, ‘Contamination effects and the number of partiesin mixed-superposition electoral systems’, Electoral Studies, Vol. 20, No. 1,2001, pp. 63–86.34 G. Golosov, Political Parties in the Regions of Russia: Democracy Unclaimed,Boulder, CO: Lynne Reinner, 2004.35 The underdevelopment of political parties in most regional assemblies in 2002–3was the reason why a minimum share (50 per cent) of deputies elected on thebasis of PR was introduced in majority of regions. Three regions – Daghestan,Moscow Oblast and St Petersburg – chose a completely proportional system.36 Including Chechnya, which is not included in our analysis. Besides, in Sverdlovskand Vologda oblasts elections were held twice.