Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Political conflict and institutional design: Paths of party development in Russia

1998; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 14; Issue: 1-2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/13523279808415375

1743-9116

Thomas F. Remington,

Political Influence and Corporate Strategies

Partisan conflict in the Russian parliament sheds light on the question of how institutional arrangements affect the development of a party system. Russian parliamentary parties divide along a left‐right axis, but share an integralist outlook on federalism issues. These cross‐cutting issue dimensions generate intra‐cameral and inter‐branch conflict over property rights and fiscal policy, while inter‐cameral disputes frequently centre on federalism issues. Despite the asymmetry of the Constitution and the severity of left‐right divisions, parliamentary parties all employ their existing institutional resources for electoral and policy goals. Party dominance of the Duma and the alignment of Duma parties on the same side of the federalism issue have tended to partition conflict in Russia, stabilizing the political system at the expense of coherent policy‐making.