Elections by Design: Parties and Patronage in Russia's Regions by Bryon Moraski (review)

Abstract

reviews 587 Deputies pushed the nationalists and party conservatives towards a belief that the dangers to Russia and to 'socialism' were one and the same. This is then followed by an analysis of the formation of the Russian Communist Party (RCP) and its activities, and the part played by nationalists associated with it in the final endgame of Soviet disintegration. The style adopted in these chapters does not help to extend analysis of themovement from international ism to nationalism. Many of the chapters, which are quite often long, do not have clear conclusions. The narrative moves on from one chapter to another as the impact of an event has worked out and the next big event is introduced. This makes following the themes of the book hard and focuses attention on events to the detriment of any larger argument. As a result, what O'Connor presents is a freshand very detailed reading of nationalist concerns and what they understood to be the problems faced by theUSSR during perestroika. This in itselfhas some value since itamounts to a history of the end of the USSR presented from the right rather than as is usual from the left,and for that reason O'Connor's book is a useful addition to the literature on the end of theUSSR. Department of Politics andPublic AdministrationNeil Robinson UniversityofLimerick Moraski, Bryon. Elections by Design: Parties andPatronage in Russia's Regions.North ern Illinois University Press, DeKalb, IL, 2006. xii 4- 164 pp. Tables. Appendices. Notes. Bibliography. Index. $36.00. Russian 'asymmetric' federalism constitutes a bewildering array of institu tional arrangements among its eighty-nine federal components. Vast diver gences between regions have made cross-regional generalizations below the gubernatorial level relatively rare. This volume is a notable exception, aiming to explain the variety of parliamentary electoral systems chosen across Rus sia.What accounts for differences in proportionality and the size of electoral districts? What motivated decision-makers to adopt different systems? The role of parties and elites and their interrelationship is to the fore: can par ties shape electoral systems or electoral systems shape parties, particularly in contexts where parties need institutional incentives to coalesce, but the existing elites themselves face few incentives to help them do so? Chapters one and two analyse the importance of institutional choice in settling the 'rules of the game' for new democracies, and of electoral sys tem choice for impact on party systems, voting behaviour and ultimately democratization itself. Unlike many, Moraski does not focus on the strict dif ferences between plurality (SMD) and proportional representation systems, but argues that there is a spectrum of options available to decision makers, with electoral district magnitude being the factor with most influence on the proportionality of PR and single-mandate systems alike. This sensitivity to context is a key strength of thiswork and is illustrated in chapter two, when the author blends rational choice institutionalism and historical insti tutionalism to parse the 'multiplemotives' (p. 27). The four factorsMoraski 588 SEER, 86, 3, JULY 2008 emphasizes as affecting institutional choice are elite position (such as legislative-executive relations), elite political orientation, their relationship with Boris El'tsin, and theirown expectations about the effectsof different electoral rules. However, elite self-interest is the common thread. Overall, the volume skilfully integrates a number of methodologies that provide comprehensive and convincing answers to these questions. Chapter threeundertakes an exhaustive statistical analysis of the four independent vari ables affecting electoral system choice (alongside other potential factors such as ethnic composition, party development and constitutional status).Moraski argues that the federal government played a crucial role in influencing elec toral system choice: El'tsin sacked many regional figureswho opposed him inOctober 1993 and prescribed a system of SMD-plurality for new legisla tures.However, areas with elected executives and a high degree of political competition were significantly likely to deviate from federal prescriptions in favour of more proportional systems,whilst the timing of electoral system adoption was also relevant: the later the adoption of an electoral system, the more likely to deviate from El'tsin's decree, since decision makers were more aware of the consequences of electoral design and more confident about their own autonomy. Mindful of...