"A pathbreaking study that broadens our conceptual and empirical understanding of the comparative development of the party systems in five countries. Applying a sophisticated theoretical methodology, the work fills a major gap in the literature on the inter-relationship between institutions, elections and political outcomes." - Richard Sakwa, University of Kent at Canterbury"This volume provides a much-needed comparative ... Read moreanalysis of party systems in five post-Soviet states. The analysis benefits from being theoretically informed, conceptually rigorous and systematic in its approach. It also contains a wealth of empirical data that will undoubtedly be of considerable use to other scholars. Meleshevich's systematic comparative approach to party-system institutionalization distinguishes it from much previous research and marks it out as a milestone in the field of post-Soviet studies. This work will undoubtedly become a point of reference for scholars of post-Soviet party systems in years to come, and it will be essential reading for students of party systems in the post-communist world and beyond." - Sarah Birch, Department of Government, University of Essex"This book is a very interesting study of party system institutionalization in post- communist politics. Unlike many contemporary studies, Andrey Meleshevich fully incorporates the existing general comparative literature on party-system institutionalization and uses that framework to shed light on how party systems are emerging in the countries of the former Soviet Union. This is truly a comparative work,andcontributes greatly to integrating the study of post-communist politics with mainstream comparative politics." - John Ishiyama, Professor of Political Science, Truman University Show Less