Regional party system formation in Russia: The deviant case of Sverdlovsk oblast

The level of organizational development achieved by competitive political parties in Sverdlovsk oblast is higher than in many other regions of Russia. In cross‐regional comparative perspective, the deviant case of Sverdlovsk oblast suggests that, for a political system lacking a recent history of competitive political parties, establishing free elections can promote the development and institutionalization of a party system in the following political conditions: an intra‐elite conflict occurs that emerges in (1) electoral competition among the elite participants where (2) political parties, and not alternative forms of mass electoral mobilization, are meaningfully employed in the competition by some competitors, and (3) the conflict's outcome does not result in one set of elites possessing all or virtually all the political rewards. Thus the achievement of ‘elite settlements’ and the consolidation of monopolistic regimes in most regions of Russia leave little space for the development of political parties.