Strategies of creating a dominant party – the case of UR
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,
United Russia can definitely be seen as a leader-oriented, de-ideologized catch-all party.
Secondly, it is also important for a dominant party to mobilize key socio-economic groups.
On one hand, dominant party needs to focus on groups that will make fewer demands than
others or that will give a maximum political payoff for minimum effort. However, in order to
claim to represent the interests of the whole nation, the party must cover wide range of
political spectrum and therefore recruit supporters from all parts of society (Arian and Barnes
1974: 598).
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