Scholars Explore Upcoming Russian Elections

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December 09, 1999

SEARCH THE GAZETTE

HARVARD GAZETTE ARCHIVES

From left, Timothy J. Colton, director, Davis Center; Marvin Kalb, executive director, Washington Office of the Shorenstein Center; Graham Allison, director, Belfer Center; Marshall Goldman, associate director, Davis Center; and Monica Toft, assistant director, Olin Institute for Strategic Studies at the Weatherhead Center, at a briefing on Russia's upcoming parliamentary election.

"You can think of an election in two fundamental ways: as a contest between players who are seeking to win, and as a choice on the part of the country’s citizens. Our intention today is to focus more on the contest than the choice, since that contest shapes the choice in fundamental ways." With these words, Timothy Colton, director of the Davis Center for Russian Studies, welcomed a crowd of students, scholars, and members of the press who had gathered at Harvard's Faculty Club late last month for a briefing on Russia's upcoming parliamentary election.

Cosponsored by the Kathryn W. and Shelby Cullom Davis Center for Russian Studies and the Strengthening Democratic Institutions Project of the Kennedy School's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, the symposium "Russia Votes: A Preview of Russia's Duma Election" examined the positions and prospects of parties across the political spectrum and surveyed the underlying trends that may influence the Dec. 19 election.

The first of two panels opened with an overview of the evolution of the political party system in Russia. Speakers offered analysis on the full range of today’s players – the liberal, centrist, Communist and establishment, as well as extremist parties – and of the dilemmas, including some very complex ones, which the various contenders face. The second panel delved into salient dimensions of the contest, including campaign strategies, fragmentation within parties, the politicization of the media, the growing influence of Russia’s regions, and the role played by economic elites.

Luncheon speaker Graham Allison, director of the Belfer Center, highlighted linkages between the election and Russia’s foreign policy agenda. Comparing the current mood in Russia to that in the U.S. during the Iran hostage crisis, Allison suggested that the issue of the war in Chechnya "has been a great canvas" on which all candidates can exhibit their unqualified commitment to Russia’s national interests. "You see the rhetoric [about standing up for Russia] in each of the campaigns," noted Allison.

A second election briefing cosponsored by the Belfer Center's Strengthening Democratic Institutions Project and the Davis Center will be held next spring in Washington, D.C. The topic of that event will be Russia's presidential election, scheduled for June 2000.