| Summary/Abstract |
This article describes the principles and features of the party based political system in Russia and analyses the historical process that transformed the country from a single party polity within the Soviet Union into a multiparty democracy. It shows that the last decade of the twentieth century—marked by a proliferation of parties, a fragmentation of society, social decline and political paralysis—was succeeded from 2001 by the ongoing period of the concentration of power in the hegemonic party United Russia led by Vladimir Putin. This socially conservative but economically liberal and reformist party aims to build a middle class capable of supporting a stable democracy.
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