Sub-institutionalization of political parties in Russia

The vertical orientation of political relations has intensified the loss of institutional and functional missions by the public political parties. It is argued that in the context of a hybrid political regime the political parties exist as substitutes of the civil society and perform instrumental functions aimed at preservation of the monocentric political system. Resolution of the issue of sub-institutionalization of the Russian political parties lies in democratization of political relations, and political and legal transformation of the political parties into the civil institutions without “special" political status -par in parem, that would level out the transaction costs.