Strategies of creating a dominant party – the case of UR
Very soon after the establishment
of the party, United Russia (called Unity Block in 1999) insisted that it eschewed ideology, at
least no other than the support for the current president, as the leader of the party, Sergei
Shoigu declared: ,,We do not bind ourselves to any narrow ideological direction. We are not
,,centrists", ,,rightists", or ,,leftists". We are a party of consolidation of all healthy forces in
society, free of ideological bias" (Colton and McFault 2003: 57-58). Assumedly, in this
context, "healthy forces" referred to the support for Putin and his government.
It is clear, that the leadership has become the main key in granting party support (Smyth et al.
2007: 124). For example during the 2007 Duma elections campaign, United Russia openly
demonstrated its loyalty to president Putin by manifesting ,,Vote for Putin's plan!", while its
position on major policy issues remained questionable (Gel'man 2008: 921). In this light,
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