The Last Bastion of Unitarism? Local Institutions, Party Politics, and Ramifications of EU Accession in Lithuania
A Japanese political scientist specializing in the former Soviet republics examines the system of regions taking shape within Lithuania. Driven in part by EU accession requirements, the current system is compared with the Soviet past and with that of Russia, Poland, and the Czech Republic. The paper, based substantially on field work in 2001, argues that emergence of the country's most recognizable and operational regions, second-tier municipalities, has bolstered the competitive character of Lithuanian politics. A detailed analysis of elections of deputies to municipal councils, and subsequent election of mayors to head those councils, demonstrates patterns of coalition building designed to maintain a power balance among local party organizations. Three case studies demonstrate divergent contexts within which a national trend—the rise and fall of Lithuania's bipolar party system—is played out. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: H11, H77, O18. 1 figure, 5 tables, 42 references.
From communist boss politics to post-communist caciquismo — the meso-elite and meso-governments in post-communist countries
After the financial crisis in 1998 the Yeltsin Administration lay on its deathbed. Not surprisingly, it was regional chiefs (governors and republican presidents) that first proposed a design for the post-Yeltsin government. In August 1999, the “Fatherland” guided by Moscow Mayor Y. Luzhkov and “All Russia” composed of influential regional leaders such as Tatarstan president M. Shaimiev unified with each other. Moreover, this united organization, the OVR, succeeded in having E. Primakov (who was very popular at that time) as its president. It was obvious that these regional chiefs were promoting Primakov as the future candidate for the Russian presidency. It is not difficult to surmise what would have happened if it had not been for the Second Chechnya War and that the OVR had kept its popularity throughout the electoral cycle of 1999–2000. If Primakov had won the presidential election, a political regime similar to the American one during the second half of the 19th century
Regional party system formation in Russia: The deviant case of Sverdlovsk oblast
The level of organizational development achieved by competitive political parties in Sverdlovsk oblast is higher than in many other regions of Russia. In cross‐regional comparative perspective, the deviant case of Sverdlovsk oblast suggests that, for a political system lacking a recent history of competitive political parties, establishing free elections can promote the development and institutionalization of a party system in the following political conditions: an intra‐elite conflict occurs that emerges in (1) electoral competition among the elite participants where (2) political parties, and not alternative forms of mass electoral mobilization, are meaningfully employed in the competition by some competitors, and (3) the conflict's outcome does not result in one set of elites possessing all or virtually all the political rewards. Thus the achievement of ‘elite settlements’ and the consolidation of monopolistic regimes in most regions of Russia leave little space for the development of political parties.