Introduction


 
                                                                                                        

Epiphany: Vol. 6, No. 1, 2013  

ISSN 1840-3719 

Is M. Duverger’s ‘Disparity Law’ the Rosetta Stone 

of Ukrainian Partology?  
Yurij Shveda

*
 

 

Abstract 

 
In November 24-25 2011 Kyiv hosted International conference 

“Party system of Ukraine: evolution, tendencies and perspectives of 

development,” organized by I. F. Kuras Institute of Political and 

Ethno-National Studies at the National Academy of Sciences of 

Ukraine. The conference assembled a number of scholars from 

Ukraine and abroad, who are engaged in studying political parties. 

This was probably the first conference in Ukraine of such level 

exclusively dedicated to analyzing political parties, their role and 

place in the political life of Ukraine.  The conference was unique and 

very productive in terms of the level of discussion and geography of 

participation. It has proved that Ukrainian studies of political parties 

– partology – has already formed and is dynamically developing. 

One particular point sparking lively discussion was defining the 

essence of the notion “political party” and whether it could be 

rightfully applied to Ukrainian political associations. The article 

suggests the author‟s considerations on the essence of the problem, 

which, in our view, is a central methodological problem (or the 

Rosetta stone) of the Ukrainian partology. it may be rightfully stated 

that the solution of the problem will influence all further 

development of the discipline.   

 

Keywords: Disparity Law, Political Party, Partology and Political 

Association 

  

                                                 
*
 Corresponding author: Yurij Shveda, Associate Professor, Universytetska Str. Department of Politology, 

Philosophy Faculty, Lviv Ivan Franko National University, Lviv, Ukraine, E-mail: shveda@ukr.net    

 

mailto:shveda@ukr.net


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In classical political theory political pluralism and real multiparty system 

are considered essential features of a democratic political system. In 

twenty years of its existence Ukraine has transformed from totalitarian 

one-party to multiparty system country. Currently over 200 political 

parties are registered in Ukraine representing different ideological 

positions – practically all shades of political spectrum. Having gone all 

the way from being „a poor relation‟ of power, political parties of 

Ukraine have transformed into the main actor on the political arena. 

However, does it suffice to say that party democracy as the basis of 

democratic political regime exists in Ukraine? Can we talk about 

Ukrainian political parties as fully-fledged political institutes at all? 

Ukrainian researchers of political parties are trying to answer these 

seemingly simple questions.   

Famous French researcher of political parties M. Duverger 

rightfully stated that relations between power and parties depend to a 

great extent on the very parties: their power, genesis, structure, 

autonomy, inter-party democracy, type of leadership etc. Despite a great 

number of existing definitions of political parties the one suggested by 

M. Weiner and G. la Palombra in 1966 is considered classical. According 

to their definition party is: 

 
1) a viable organization, i.e. an organization, the average political life 

expectancy of which is longer than the life expectancy of its leadership; 

2) a local, well organized and viable organization which supports regular and 

diverse connections with other organizations of the country; 

3) a strong wish of state and local leaders of the organization to take and 

exercise power instead of only influencing it; 

4) a wish to get people‟s support through elections or in some other way” 

(Palombara, 1996, 55-57).  

Basing on this definition we may state that Ukrainian political parties are not 

really consistent with these criteria. 

 

Just few of numerous political parties of Ukraine have clear and 

understandable ideology, which determines their activity. So, out of 

existing parties only 30 have programs which include references to 

certain ideology serving the basis for their activities (Shajgorodsky, 2005, 

20). Moreover, not infrequently contradictions can be found in the names, 

programs and activities of Ukrainian political parties. Another frequent 



Y. Shevda              Is M. Duverger‟s „Disparity Law‟ the Rosetta Stone of Ukrainian Partology?  

Epiphany: Journal of Transdisciplinary Studies, Vol. 6, No. 1, (2013) © Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences 

[249] 

phenomenon of Ukrainian politics is politicians changing their views and, 

accordingly, their parties or parliamentary fractions. This shows that 

ideological basis of the activity of Ukrainian political parties fulfils 

instrumental rather than principal role. It is even stranger to observe 

various party unions (coalitions) which often combine representatives of 

different (sometimes even ideologically polar political forces) – for 

example a party of large Ukrainian capital – Party of Regions (PR) and 

Communistic Party of Ukraine (CPU). Political parties of Ukraine are 

mostly parties of leader‟s type. This means that sympathy or antipathy to 

leaders mostly form the attitude of average Ukrainians to the party. The 

belief in political leaders is caused by the dominating type of political 

culture of the population, when party ideologies, as M. Duverger marked, 

acquire some of the features of religion bringing a significant component 

of irrational into politics (i.e. belief).  

In case of proportional election system with closed lists people 

actually vote for political leaders and do not influence the list of 

candidates for deputies. Average members of the very parties also have 

insignificant and only mediated influence on forming lists. Eventually 

this marks the end of voters – their party connection. Therefore, the trust 

to both political parties and bodies of power which include the elected 

representatives is lost. If we analyze dynamics of the formation of 

political parties in Ukraine we may easily notice the tendency to rapid 

growth of their number right before parliamentary election. So, in 1997 

10 political parties appeared, in 2001 – 11 parties and in 2005 – 24 

parties (http://www.minjust.gov.ua/parties). It is of interest that after 

defeat in the election few of them live until the next election.  

 

   

 

 

 

 

http://www.minjust.gov.ua/parties


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Dynamics of registration of political parties in Ukraine 

 

According to Kolodij (2007) Among the existing political parties 

there are not more than 20 which, either independently or as a member of 

some block, have participated in at least three parliamentary elections (p. 

83). The new edition of the Law of Ukraine “About election of people‟s 

deputies of Ukraine”, which denies blocks of political parties the right to 

participate in the election, is quite likely to decrease their number. 

Simultaneously, the previously existing practice when parties participated 

in the election as members of a block did not favor strengthening of 

organizational structures of political parties (http://www.cvk.gov.ua). 

Another widely accepted practice of political parties‟ activity is 

the phenomenon of the so-called re-branding of parties. It consists in re-

forming old parties rather than forming new ones with the aim of 

participating in the election. The reformation may consist in changing the 

name or leadership (these are, e.g. S. Tigipko‟s party “Strong Ukraine” or 

N. Korolevska‟s party “Ukraine – ahead!”). After parliamentary election 

they do not spark any interest and stop existing or exist in the so-called 

“frozen” state. Transforming political parties of Ukraine into “machines 

for voting” prevents them from effectively developing their 

organizational structures, and, eventually, changes them into virtual ones.  

The majority of political parties in Ukraine are not numerous and 

weakly structured organizations. Sociological surveys were held by 

Razumkov‟s Center during November 25
th

 – December 5
th

 2001 and 

http://www.cvk.gov.ua/


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during June 19-25
th

 2008. They showed that only 4,9% and 4,7% of the 

participants positioned themselves as members of political parties, which 

is 1-1,5 million people, i.e. only 4-5% of adult population of the country 

(Yakymenko, 2001). According to March 26
th

 2005 census the Ministry 

of Justice of Ukraine registered 126 parties. 39 of them had registered 

centres in all regions of Ukraine (31 %), 63 (50%) had registered centres 

in most regions of Ukraine, and only 6 parties (4,76%) had registered 

regional centres in less than a half of regions of Ukraine. 18 political 

parties (14,3%) did not have registered centres in any region of the 

country.   

With the implementation of proportional election system in 2006 

Ukrainian political parties have tried to register only regional 

organizations (as it is legally provided) and do not attend to developing 

their local networks. Even the most developed political parties have only 

been able to develop their organizational network to the level of districts. 

According to Rjabec (2001) the number of political parties without a 

single district or city organization rose from 18 in 2003 to 26 in the 

election in 2006. Therefore, the system of party representation is useful 

for those parties and blocks, which do not have a developed 

organizational infrastructure (quality structuring on the local level), but 

have a good financial basis for holding a powerful advertising campaign 

or economic influence in separate regions (election in 2006 demonstrated 

regional character of support of different parties and blocks).   

Apart from that, a significant part of local centres of political 

parties are fictitious. So, a check of the Ministry of Justice showed that 

46 political parties had violated legislation in some way; as a result the 

registration of 37 political parties was canceled. The most frequent 

violations included the absence of representation at the place of juridical 

address and the absence of local juridical organizations in most regions of 

Ukraine. The Supreme Court of Ukraine annulled the registration of 28 

political parties which could not provide the formation and registration of 

their local organizations in most regions during 6 months from the 

registration date. In 2008 the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine checked the 

activity of only 4 political parties, which led to their getting the warning; 



Y. Shevda              Is M. Duverger‟s „Disparity Law‟ the Rosetta Stone of Ukrainian Partology?  

Epiphany: Journal of Transdisciplinary Studies, Vol. 6, No. 1, (2013) © Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences 

[252] 

in 2009 the same warning was made to 20 political parties 

(http//www.parlament.org.ua).  

The level of awareness of the population about the activity of 

political parties speaks for itself. So, according to the surveys held by 

Razumkov‟s centre in December 2009 only 42,1% of respondents heard 

something about the activities of local organizations of parties in their 

regions; other 50,6% heard nothing about their activities. According to 

the Bulletin of Central Electoral Commission a rather low level of 

representation of political parties on the local level is also proved by the 

results of local election. So, at the local elections in 2006 PR and Block 

of Yulia Tymoshenko each got 27,5 % places in local councils of all 

levels, People‟s Union “Our Ukraine” got 16,9%, Socialist Party of 

Ukraine – 6,4%, People‟s Block of Lytvyn – 4,6%, and Communist Party 

of Ukraine – 3,7%. It is clear that such “electoral” approach to political 

parties does not favour their transformation into effective and 

authoritative institutes of political system. According to the National 

Security and Defence report in December 2001 74,9% of respondents 

claimed that Ukrainian political parties did not fulfill their functions in 

the society, while in April 2003 this number constituted 77,5%. 

According to the results of sociological survey held by Razumkov‟s 

centre the percentage of respondents who completely distrust and rather 

distrust political parties fluctuated between 79.5% and 64.8% in the 

period 2001-2009, and the percentage of respondents who trust or rather 

trust political parties constituted from 12,4% to 22,5%.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



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Do you trust political parties? (dynamics, 2001-2009) 

 
 

In conditions of restricted membership basis and low level of 

support, absence of state financing and considerable commercialization 

of politics (especially elections) political parties of Ukraine have actually 

remained devoid of serious resources. This objectively pushed them to 

„co-operation‟ with large capital. Soon enough most of them found 

themselves dependent on certain financial-industrial groups (FIG).  

Another proof of rising commercialization level is expenses for 

preparation and organization of elections. According to the Bulletin of 

Central Election Commission (2008) the organization of parliamentary 

election in March 1998 cost 248 million UAH, in March 2002 – 172,2 

million UAH, in March 2006 – 512 million UAH and early elections in 

September 2007 – 347,3 million UAH [13]. The general sum of election 

funds of parties (blocks) at the 2002 election constituted 32,4 million 

UAH, in 2006 – 553,6 million UAH, and in 2007 – 581,4 million UAH. 

It is of importance to remark that according to the data provided by 

public organization the Committee of Voters of Ukraine the expenses of 

the party‟s election fund constitute only 25-30% of all money spent 

during the election campaign (http:www.newsru.ua/ukraine).    

According to the data provided by the project „Public monitoring 

of financing electoral campaign 2002‟ about 40% of general expenses of 

political parties for electoral campaign were taken from shadowy funds. 

Experts estimate that real expenses for electoral campaign in 2002 

constituted 52,9 million UAH, in 2006 – 10 billion USD, in 2007 – 1-1,5 



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Epiphany: Journal of Transdisciplinary Studies, Vol. 6, No. 1, (2013) © Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences 

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billion USD. It is clear that such money could not have been received 

from democratic sources. During electoral campaign in 2006 and early 

election campaign in 2007 unofficial expenses constituted about 75 % of 

all money spent. However, usually these numbers show the expenses of 

three or four parties (Obushny, 2007, 10). On the other hand, the results 

of recent elections show that a considerable number of electoral process 

subjects participate in the election only formally due to the lack of 

financial resources. So, at the 1998 election there were 30 subjects of 

electoral process 13 of which (43,3%) got less that 1% of votes. The 

same tendency characterizes the next election. At the election in 2002 

there were 33 participants registered, 20 of which (60,6%) got less than 

1% of votes. These numbers for the elections in 2006 constituted 45 and 

34 (75,5%), and for the early elections in 2007 – 20 and 13 (65%) 

accordingly. Such situation proves that the mechanism of forming the 

highest representative organ of the state is to a great extent determined by 

the level of financial support of the interest rather than interests 

themselves.  

That is why sociological survey held in December 2001 showed 

that 45% of respondents thought that political parties served the interests 

of financial and business structures; 30,5% of respondents were 

convinced that they serve the interests of political leaders. In April 2003 

the numbers of respondents to the same questions constituted 55,7% and 

45,6% accordingly (the National Security and Defence, 2003, 20). The 

lack of transparency of political financing leads to actual merging of 

political forces with representatives of shadow and criminal business, 

which, in its turn, hinders democratic transformations in Ukraine. On the 

other hand, coming to power respective political forces get access to the 

sources of illegal income and the possibility of legalizing “dirty money”. 

This is reflected in the results of the expert survey held by Razumkov‟s 

Centre in 2009. The question „To what extent do people‟s deputies 

defend the interests…?‟ was answered in the following way: 95,7% of 

experts stated that people‟s deputies defend the interests of large 

business, 87% – of shadow business (the National Security and Defence, 

2009, 48).   

 



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Moreover, the same Centre held a nationwide survey on the 20-

28
th

 of July 2009, according to which 39,3% of respondents stated that 

political parties are fully corrupted. Other 72,9% think that concealing 

sources of financing by political parties (blocks) testifies to their being 

corrupted; 72,5% of respondents think that corruption is manifested in 

selling and buying places in electoral lists of political parties (blocks) 

(Duverger, 2000, 48). Accordingly, the very function of a party as a 

political institution gets deformed, as it does not direct its activity onto 

representation or defense of interests of citizens but rather onto satisfying 

narrow corporative interests of their financial donors. Therefore, 

orientation of political parties on voter‟s interests is often purely 

symbolic, which violates the basis principles of representative 

democracy. 

“If the disparity law is really formulated”, – M. Duverger (2000) 

stated, – the traditional understanding of democracy will be objected, as 

… ruling bodies of parties formed by their members tend to dominate 

over parliamentaries who got their authority from voters. It would be fine 

if the political status of the former and the latter was approximately 

similar, and the members of the party could be seen as the most 

conscious part or an avant-garde of voters.  However, the disparity law 

would ruin this illusion showing that essential differences in the 

behaviour of these two groups absolutely exclude the possibility of one of 

them to function as an analogue of the other.  To measure this disparity 

means to measure the extent to which oligarchy penetrates into the 

regimes which we call democratic” (20).  

Therefore, the central methodological problem of Ukrainian 

partologists is the question if we have to deal with political parties which 

are only being formed and trying to develop into independent subjects of 

political life (protoparties) or with pseudoparties (simulacras) which only 

serve the political interests of economically dominant groups. Answering 

this question will, similarly to the Rosetta stone, determine the further 

direction of the development of Ukrainian theory of political parties.   

 

  



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