Overview

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.

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Reviews

'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 Edinburgh

'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 Edinburgh ...Hale's theoretical framework and his insightful application of [his] model help to make sense of what previously has been presented as contradictory evidence about party system development in Russia. -Comparative Political Studies This well-researched and skillfully executed study is a highly valuable contribution to the fields of political science and postcommunist studies and necessary for specialists interested in the question of Russian party and political system development. -Slavic Review ...This book is a useful tool for studying modern Russian politics. Summing Up: Recommended. -Choice Why Not Parties? presents an original and comprehensive analysis of the development of Russian political parties from 1991 to the present day. Hale utilizes the metaphor of a `political market' to show how would-be political party `suppliers' interact with social forces that generate a `demand' for party organizations. Utilizing extensive field research, Hale demonstrates descriptively and statistically that Russian party building has been short-circuited by the emergence of various `party substitutes'-such as regional governors' political machines and parties sponsored by central or regional `oligarchs.' Hale's book is a crucial contribution to debates about the fate of Russia's democratic experiment--and about the nature of party building in general. -Stephen Hanson, University of Washington Henry Hale argues that the development of a strong competitive party system in Russia has stalled because other types of electoral organizations, particularly governors' machines, large business corporations, and the Kremlin's machinations, have crowded parties out of the electoral marketplace. This study helps resolve many of the conflicting and puzzling observations that have run through the literature on Russia's parties, and it offers a theoretical perspective that will find application far beyond Russia. -Thomas Remington, Emory University In this excellent study Hale shows that party substitutes have consistently won out over parties, particularly at the regional level...this is an excellent contribution to the field of party politics in Russia and also to wider study of comparative politics in general. - Cameron Ross, University of Dundee, Scotland, Russian Review Why Not Parties in Russia? is an important book. Examining party competition in a system whose transition is stalled, if not terminated, Hale provides tools which enable us to understand why some party systems are more institutionalized than others. -Steven B. Wolinetz, International Political Science Review

'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 Edinburgh ...Hale's theoretical framework and his insightful application of [his] model help to make sense of what previously has been presented as contradictory evidence about party system development in Russia. -Comparative Political Studies This well-researched and skillfully executed study is a highly valuable contribution to the fields of political science and postcommunist studies and necessary for specialists interested in the question of Russian party and political system development. -Slavic Review ...This book is a useful tool for studying modern Russian politics. Summing Up: Recommended. -Choice Why Not Parties? presents an original and comprehensive analysis of the development of Russian political parties from 1991 to the present day. Hale utilizes the metaphor of a 'political market' to show how would-be political party 'suppliers' interact with social forces that generate a 'demand' for party organizations. Utilizing extensive field research, Hale demonstrates descriptively and statistically that Russian party building has been short-circuited by the emergence of various 'party substitutes'-such as regional governors' political machines and parties sponsored by central or regional 'oligarchs.' Hale's book is a crucial contribution to debates about the fate of Russia's democratic experiment--and about the nature of party building in general. -Stephen Hanson, University of Washington Henry Hale argues that the development of a strong competitive party system in Russia has stalled because other types of electoral organizations, particularly governors' machines, large business corporations, and the Kremlin's machinations, have crowded parties out of the electoral marketplace. This study helps resolve many of the conflicting and puzzling observations that have run through the literature on Russia's parties, and it offers a theoretical perspective that will find application far beyond Russia. -Thomas Remington, Emory University In this excellent study Hale shows that party substitutes have consistently won out over parties, particularly at the regional level...this is an excellent contribution to the field of party politics in Russia and also to wider study of comparative politics in general. - Cameron Ross, University of Dundee, Scotland, Russian Review Why Not Parties in Russia? is an important book. Examining party competition in a system whose transition is stalled, if not terminated, Hale provides tools which enable us to understand why some party systems are more institutionalized than others. -Steven B. Wolinetz, International Political Science Review

Author Information

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.

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