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Political parties typically are assumed to be essential for contemporary democratic government and governance. Why, then, has the regime change in Russia failed to produce viable political parties? Grigorii Golosov addresses this question, exploring issues central to an understanding of Russian political development. Golosov combines statistical and qualitative analysis, including case studies, to explain why political parties have not yet taken hold in Russia's regions. His argument is bolstered by a uniquely comprehensive database of regional elections held in the period 1993-April 2003. Moving from the late Soviet era to current efforts by the federal government to promote a viable party system at the regional level, his work is a pathbreaking contribution to both Russian studies and comparative politics.