Bulletin n. 1/2010 | ||
July 2010 | ||
Thames Frank C. |
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The Effect of Governor Support on Legislative Behaviour in the Russian Duma | ||
in Europe-Asia Studies , vol. 62, n. 1, January , 2010 , 125-143 | ||
Until the 2007 Duma election, the Russian polity displayed several characteristics that should have allowed regional leaders to have an impact on deputies: a federalist system, an electoral system that encouraged regional representation, weak political parties, and regional leaders with electoral resources. Recent research on Russian mixed-member Duma elections argues that governors influenced the election of single-member district deputies. This raises the spectre that governors could have influenced the behaviour of these deputies. Using data from the third post-communist Duma, I demonstrate that single-member district deputies backed by regional leaders in the 1999 Duma election behaved differently from others in two critical areas: parliamentary party choice and support for the presidential legislative agenda. Governor support did not, however, affect committee choice. | ||