Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- 1 ELECTIONS AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF DEMOCRATIC CAPACITY
- 2 ONE STEP FORWARD, TWO STEPS BACK: RUSSIA'S FAILED CONSOLIDATION IN COMPARATIVE CONTEXT
- 3 THE MICROFOUNDATIONS OF DEMOCRATIC RESPONSIVENESS: CANDIDATE STRATEGIES AND ELECTORAL INFRASTRUCTURE
- 4 MANY CANDIDATES, FEW CHOICES
- 5 TO JOIN OR NOT TO JOIN: CANDIDATE AFFILIATION IN TRANSITIONAL RUSSIA
- 6 FINDING FIT: CANDIDATES AND THEIR DISTRICTS
- 7 CAMPAIGNING FOR THE DUMA: MIXED MARKETS, MIXED MESSAGES
- 8 DEMOCRATS, DEMOCRATIC TRANSITIONS, AND RUSSIAN DEMOCRACY
- Appendix A The Sample
- Appendix B The Candidate Survey
- Appendix C Variables Constructed from Survey Data
- Appendix D Sample and Variable Construction for Analysis in Chapter 2
- Works Cited
- Index
- Cambridge Cultural Social Studies
1 - ELECTIONS AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF DEMOCRATIC CAPACITY
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 July 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- 1 ELECTIONS AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF DEMOCRATIC CAPACITY
- 2 ONE STEP FORWARD, TWO STEPS BACK: RUSSIA'S FAILED CONSOLIDATION IN COMPARATIVE CONTEXT
- 3 THE MICROFOUNDATIONS OF DEMOCRATIC RESPONSIVENESS: CANDIDATE STRATEGIES AND ELECTORAL INFRASTRUCTURE
- 4 MANY CANDIDATES, FEW CHOICES
- 5 TO JOIN OR NOT TO JOIN: CANDIDATE AFFILIATION IN TRANSITIONAL RUSSIA
- 6 FINDING FIT: CANDIDATES AND THEIR DISTRICTS
- 7 CAMPAIGNING FOR THE DUMA: MIXED MARKETS, MIXED MESSAGES
- 8 DEMOCRATS, DEMOCRATIC TRANSITIONS, AND RUSSIAN DEMOCRACY
- Appendix A The Sample
- Appendix B The Candidate Survey
- Appendix C Variables Constructed from Survey Data
- Appendix D Sample and Variable Construction for Analysis in Chapter 2
- Works Cited
- Index
- Cambridge Cultural Social Studies
Summary
Elections and representation are two different institutions.
Yury Sharandin, chair of the Constitutional Legislation Committee of the Federation CouncilIn describing the third wave of democratic transitions, Samuel Huntington (1991) wrote that the introduction of elections signals the death of authoritarian systems. Subsequent developments have demonstrated that the relationship between elections and regime change is much more complicated. Yes, the critical event in the consolidation period is the introduction of competitive elections. However, electoral competition does not always mark the death of an authoritarian regime. Rather, it signals the beginning of building a new regime while grappling with the vestiges of the old, a process that can end in a range of outcomes from stable, responsive, and accountable democracy to authoritarian revival.
This book explores the role that electoral competition plays in the evolution of transitional regimes. Its premise is that understanding how individual politicians respond to incentives in the newly established electoral arena helps to explain the success or failure of democratic consolidation. While the empirical focus of this book is largely on the Russian Federation, the theoretic framework illuminates the broader implications of electoral politics in new democracies.
As Russia emerged from its democratization period and undertook competitive elections in 1993, optimism about the country's chances of achieving democratic goals was boundless. Analysts declared that the Communist Party – and by implication the authoritarian regime – was over. Elections, they argued, had supplanted both the party and authoritarian rule, and would serve as the basis for a stable democracy.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Candidate Strategies and Electoral Competition in the Russian FederationDemocracy without Foundation, pp. 1 - 13Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2006