When Majorities Fail

ISBN-13: 9780521801126 / Angielski / Twarda / 2002 / 296 str.

Josephine T. Andrews

Opis

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.

Recenzje

'This study illuminates an important aspect of Russia's history, and avoids the facile condemnations of Yeltsin that are too common in the literature. The work is also of significance for students of comparative presidentialism, but above all it marks a great leap forwards in our understanding of legislature behaviour. From being an abstract concept in the literature, Andrews has made cycling the centrepiece of this study and the points she makes are of relevance to students of parliamentary affairs elsewhere. Despite dealing with a complex theoretical model and applying much detailed empirical analysis of voting patterns, the work is accessible to the general reader.' Slavonica

Spis treści

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.