Аннотация:The rapid collapse of the ideologically mobilized Soviet system led to the rise of a huge market of votes without strong, ingrained political attachments. The formation of the new institutions of representative democracy were in Russia influenced by both the post-Soviet social context and the conditions of modern society, particularly the development of new means of communication. The impact of these factors on organization, finance, forms of electioneering and the role parties play in post-Soviet Russian politics is considered in this chapter.