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during the
reform years a multitude of political parties has appeared in
russia. if the success of democratization was measured by the number
of parties, russia would certainly rank among the world抯 most
democratically advanced countries. the problem, however, is that the
efficacy of parties is judged not by their profusion but by the
ability to articulate the interests of significant social forces, to
promote these interests by engaging in national politics, and thus
shape the country抯 domestic and foreign policies. measured by this
yardstick, russia is still behind more advanced western democracies. |
by 2001, about
200 public organizations had emerged that regarded themselves as
political parties. in july 2001, the law 揙n the political parties
of the russian federation?came into force that stipulated rigid
criteria that a political organization had to meet before it could
be registered with the russian ministry of justice as a political
party. these include regular participation in elections, a
membership of at least 10,000, and a developed branch structure with
a membership of at least 100 people in at least 50 regions of
russia.
the law has
proved effective in significantly reducing the number of political
parties ?down to about 50 in late 2003 ?as most of the dwarfish
parties of the 1990s failed to meet the new criteria and fell by the
wayside. however, many analysts believe that ideally there should be
no more than five to seven parties, as the voters are simply unable
to appreciate the differences between parties when their number is
above that level.
