Dominant party rule and legislative leadership in authoritarian regimes

Abstract Authoritarian dominant parties are said to ensure elite loyalty by providing elites with regularized opportunities for career advancement. This article uses data on the distribution of leadership posts in Russia's regional legislatures (1999)(2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010) to conduct the first systematic test of this proposition. Loyalty to the nascent hegemonic party, United Russia, is shown to be important in determining a legislator's chances of being promoted to a leadership position. These findings generate insight into how authoritarian institutions help maintain regime stability and provide a clearer picture of how Russia's ruling party works

The COVID-19 Pandemic as a Test of Russia’s Subnational State Capacity

This article is devoted to the study of subnational state capacity in Russia. The focus is on the end of the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic (2021). The study conducts a regression analysis, using the fulfillment of the social and economic requirements for regional authorities stipulated in the “May Decrees” of 2012 as the independent variable and transmission of the virus as the dependent variable. We find that subnational state capacity had an important impact on the spread of the pandemic: those regions that had greater success in implementing the requirements of the May Decrees were better able to curb the impact of the pandemic. In addition, we find that more authoritarian regions and regions with more experienced leaders were more successful in controlling the spread of the virus

The COVID-19 Pandemic as a Test of Russia’s Subnational State Capacity

This article is devoted to the study of subnational state capacity in Russia. The focus is on the end of the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic (2021). The study conducts a regression analysis, using the fulfillment of the social and economic requirements for regional authorities stipulated in the “May Decrees” of 2012 as the independent variable and transmission of the virus as the dependent variable. We find that subnational state capacity had an important impact on the spread of the pandemic: those regions that had greater success in implementing the requirements of the May Decrees were better able to curb the impact of the pandemic. In addition, we find that more authoritarian regions and regions with more experienced leaders were more successful in controlling the spread of the virus