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First published in 1958, Russian Political Institutions is intended primarily to meet the need of university students for a good account of the political institutions of the Soviet Union in terms similar to those used in their study of other countries.

First published in 1958, Russian Political Institutions is intended primarily to meet the need of university students for a good account of the political institutions of the Soviet Union in terms similar to those used in their study of other countries. Though the unique comprehensiveness of the Soviet state's concerns, to which the book draws attention, precludes a formally comparative approach, the ways in which its business is done can be explained, as elsewhere, by the country's circumstances and historical experience. The first chapter indicates something of these circumstances and experience and of the motives of the Soviet state. The second explains the way the distinctive institutional form of the Soviet state came into being and the process by which it assumed some of the conventional state machinery. The third examines this conventional state and its unconventional functions in a Russian Communist setting. The fourth concerns the structure and operation of the complex device called the Party. The fifth, in turn, examines the means evolved for the fulfillment of the state's main task, the management of the fully nationalized economy as a single concern, and the other main systems of control, including the judicial system. The sixth chapter suggests briefly how priorities of tasks are decided upon, obligations determined, and their performance secured. This is a must read for students and scholars of Russian history and Soviet politics.

Great Britain and Ireland : variations of party government / Ian Budge -- Germany : the grand coalition state / Manfred G. Schmidt -- France : the institutionalization of leadership / Yves Mény -- Italy : a democratic regime in transition / Gianfranco Pasquino -- Spain and Portugal : rule by party leadership / Josep M. Colomer -- The Low Countries : confrontation and co-operation in segmented societies / Hans Keman -- The Nordic countries : contention, compromise and corporatism / Jan-Erik Lane and Svante Ersson -- The European Union : federalism in the making / Josep M. Colomer

A clear, accessible introduction to the institutional regimes of 15 countries in western Europe, by an outstanding team of European political scientists.

Often dismissed as window dressing, nominally democratic institutions, such as legislatures and political parties, play an important role in non-democratic regimes. In a comprehensive cross-national study of all non-democratic states from 1946 to 2002 that examines the political uses of these institutions by dictators, Jennifer Gandhi finds that legislative and partisan institutions are an important component in the operation and survival of authoritarian regimes. She examines how and why these institutions are useful to dictatorships in maintaining power. In their efforts to neutralize threats to their power and to solicit cooperation from society, autocratic leaders use these institutions to organize concessions to potential opposition. The use of legislatures and parties to co-opt opposition results in significant institutional effects on policies and outcomes under dictatorship

Often dismissed as window dressing, nominally democratic institutions, such as legislatures and political parties, play an important role in non-democratic regimes. In a comprehensive cross-national study of all non-democratic states from 1946 to 2002 that examines the political uses of these institutions by dictators, Jennifer Gandhi finds that legislative and partisan institutions are an important component in the operation and survival of authoritarian regimes. She examines how and why these institutions are useful to dictatorships in maintaining power. In their efforts to neutralize threats to their power and to solicit cooperation from society, autocratic leaders use these institutions to organize concessions to potential opposition. The use of legislatures and parties to co-opt opposition results in significant institutional effects on policies and outcomes under dictatorship