Classifying United Russia, the party in Russia that has the majority of seats in parliament since 2000, proves a challenge. United Russia is called a hegemonic party, a dominant party and sometimes...Show moreClassifying United Russia, the party in Russia that has the majority of seats in parliament since 2000, proves a challenge. United Russia is called a hegemonic party, a dominant party and sometimes a party of power. Some authors even use the three concepts for United Russia in the same article (Bader 2011, White 2011, Hutcheson 2012). For example, White uses all three concepts without explaining them: “ Russia’s dominant party: United Russia, the hegemonic party of power” (2011, 655). Currently, United Russia is addressed as a party of power by many scholars (Roberts 2013, Krastev and Holmes 2012, Oversloot 2006, Protsyk 2003). However, just as many authors consider United Russia to be a dominant party (Slider 2010, Reuters 2010, Remington 2008). Only a few authors call United Russia a cartel party (Hutcheson 2012, White 2012). This indicates that the definitions used to classify parties might not be clear or that the concepts are very close to each other. All three concepts are used differently in the literature and there are not always clear boundaries between these different concepts. Most complicated seems to be the concept of a party of power. Therefore the focus of this thesis will be on the party of power. Some authors use the term party of power and dominant party interchangeably (Sakwa 2012). What does this mean? Is there confusion about the role of United Russia or lays the confusion in the differences between party types? Is there a clear understanding of what the differences are between a party of power and a dominant party, and what the differences are between a party of power and a hegemonic party? Furthermore, do all the authors use the same type in the same way? A type should be used as a clarification of the characteristics of a party. In the case of United Russia authors use different party types to point to the same elements of the party. The opposite does also occur, authors who use the same party type, but point to different traits of the party. It seems that the party types are used superfluously and have a different meaning when used by different authors.Show less
