Party of power and systemic opposition in the State Duma: toward convergence of public rhetoric

Introduction: it has been argued that the co-optation of opposition is one of the most important instruments for authoritarian regime survival. Specifically, autocracies allow opposition parties to win legislative seats in exchange for their loyalty to the regime. From this perspective, the party structure of the State Duma is studied, where the “United Russia” party of power has been fully dominant; however, in the last four convocations (2003, 2007, 2011, 2016), three so-called “systemic opposition” parties (Communist Party of the Russian Federation, Liberal democratic party of Russia, party “A Just Russia”) were present in the Russian parliament. According to the “co-optation logic”, they are supposed to demonstrate a growing loyalty to maintain their presence in the parliament. This can be manifested in the public rhetoric of deputies at the parliamentary sessions.