№ 2 - 2000
Kholodkovsky K.G.
The 1999 Parliamentary Elections and Party Structuration of Russian Society

The tendencies, that were observed during the 1995 election campaign, towards gradual increase of the role of parties, were frustrated following the 1999 elections, the author maintains. From then on, the elite structuration process advanced at the cost of redoubling the amorphous character of the rest of society. But it is unclear at the moment, whether that will prove sufficient to solve, on a long-term scale, all the complicated tasks sure to face the state, both in intra-elite relations and in the relations between the elites and society. If the present disposition of forces proves unable to secure stability and efficiency of the government’s course, and high expectations of the population turn out quick disappointment, party politics may reappear in the order of the day.