When Majorities Fail: The Russian Parliament, 1990-1993

by Josephine T. Andrews

Overview

This study of institutional failure in Russia's first democratic legislature claims that inadequate rules and a chaotic party system combined to make it nearly impossible for the legislature to pass a coherent legislative program, including a new constitution. It studies a peculiar form of chaos; cycling; that can exist in majority rule institutions when institutional rules are weak. It identifies cycling in an important institutional setting—the Russian national legislature—and shows that poor institutional design has important consequences for the consolidation of democracy in transitional countries.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521030595
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	11/02/2006
Series:	Political Economy of Institutions and Decisions
Edition description:	Reissue
Pages:	296
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 8.98(h) x 0.75(d)
Lexile:	1500L (what's this?)

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments; 1. Introduction; 2. Cycling in action: Russia's constitutional crisis; 3. Cycling and its consequences: a theoretical framework; 4. Institutional design and implications for majority rule; 5. Issue dimensions and partisan alliances; 6. The structure of preferences; 7. Legislative instability; 8. The dynamics of agenda control in the Russian parliament; 9. Implications of disequilibrium in transitional legislatures; References; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"Andrews offers a rational-choice analysis of the short-lived Russian parliament that could not finalize a new constitution and was dissolved by Yeltsin amid fighting.... Recommended." Choice

From the Publisher