How Russia’s Institutional Structure has affected its Prospects for Democratization.

... How Russia's Institutional Structure has affected its Prospects for Democratization. As Scott Mainwaring has said, "choices of political institutions matter."1 Determining, however, in what way they matter is a decidedly difficult task. The purpose of this paper is to attempt to show how choices of institutional structure in Russia's democratic transition have affected its prospects for democratization. More specifically, I will argue that, contrary to much of the literature of the Western political elite, the choice of semi-presidentialism over a parliamentary system was the better choice. I do not intend to prove that presidentialism is superior to parliamentarism in general because, frankly, I don't believe that to be true and, more importantly, I don't think that it is necessary to my argument. All I seek to prove is that some aspects of presidentialism have done more to further Russia's chances of democratic consolidation than a parliamentary system would have. Underlying my

want to read more? →