Yeltsinism is a term sometimes used to denote the political and economic policies of Boris Yeltsin

Boris Yeltsin

Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin was the first President of the Russian Federation, serving from 1991 to 1999.Originally a supporter of Mikhail Gorbachev, Yeltsin emerged under the perestroika reforms as one of Gorbachev's most powerful political opponents. On 29 May 1990 he was elected the chairman of...

, after he became the effective ruler of Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

 following the dissolution of the Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 in December 1991. The term "Yeltsinism" is most often used with a negative connotation. His critics blame him for the collapse of the USSR, which was called "The geopolitical catastrophe of the century", by Russian President Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin served as the second President of the Russian Federation and is the current Prime Minister of Russia, as well as chairman of United Russia and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Russia and Belarus. He became acting President on 31 December 1999, when...

. Others imply that Yeltsinism involves the outward appearance of democracy

Democracy

Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...

, while actually concentrating power in a form of authoritarianism

Authoritarianism

Authoritarianism is a form of social organization characterized by submission to authority. It is usually opposed to individualism and democracy...

 and consider the current political system in Russia (often called Putinism

Putinism

Putinism is the ideology, priorities, and policies of the system of government practiced by Russian politician Vladimir Putin...

) as "continuation and rejection of Yeltsinism". Mohamed Sid-Ahmed, for example, described it as "observing the minimum requirements necessary to appease western sensibilities and stave off accusations of openly violating the rules of democracy in terms of form, while actually violating those rules in terms of substance."

External links

• Yeltsinism as a Phenomenon of the Russian Sociopolitical Life
• Chechen terrorism is being caused by Yeltsinism
• Reformers With Clean Hands: A Challenge To Yeltsinism
• Quote from Putin's Russia by Lilia Shevtsova
• "Putin's impossible equation" by Mohamed Sid-Ahmed from Al-Ahram Magazine -- "It thus seems that the 'constitutional coup' brought about a 'Yeltsinism without Yeltsin'"
• "Crisis Management" from The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer -- "Yeltsinism as a set of policies has no legitimacy."
• "Different Presidents, Different Hobbies: Clinton Changes His Women, Yeltsin His Prime Ministers" by Aleksandr Buzgalin from The Jamestown Foundation
  The Jamestown Foundation
  The Jamestown Foundation is a Washington, D.C.-based institute for research and analysis, founded in 1984 as a platform to support Soviet dissidents. Today its stated mission is to "inform and educate" policy makers about events and trends, which it regards as being of current "strategic"...
  
  's Prisim -- "Nevertheless, the effects of Yeltsinism as a form of social order will continue to be felt for a long time to come; it may simply adopt a new body into which it will transplant its criminal-capitalist soul--if such a phenomenon as Yeltsinism actually has a soul."
• "135 Days of Putin" Carnegie Endowment for International Peace -- "She argued that the president's grand approach, based on fear and compliance, is doomed to fail and that most likely Putin would construct something resembling 'disciplined Yeltsinism' -- an elected monarchy with authoritarian symbols or impulses."
• "The Legacy of Boris Yeltsin - Corruption, crony capitalism, and Russia's near-demise" by Justin Raimondo -- Anti-Yeltsin article written by the libertarian
  Libertarianism
  Libertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...
  
   website Antiwar.com
  Antiwar.com
  Antiwar.com is a website devoted to opposing aggressive war, imperialism, and assaults on freedom associated with both. The editors describe their politics as libertarian. Their stated motiviation is, "to show how the imperialistic tendencies of the American government lead to a loss of civil...
  
  .
• Russia's Workers in Transition:Labor, Management, and the State under Gorbachev and Yeltsin by Paul T. Christensen (ISBN 0-87580-253-2) Published by Northern Illinois University Press. "Chapter 6: Laboring under Illusions -- Russian Workers and the Political Economy of Yeltsinism"
• "With Friends Like These, Putin Needs a Smarter Strategy" by Dimitri K. Simes, from The Washington Post, July 16, 2000, p. B5. -- "At the time of Putin's election, the elites saw him as the person best able to preserve the status quo; in essence, they sought Yeltsinism without Yeltsin."
• "Does President Putin Represent 'Yeltsinism Without Yeltsin'?" Talk given Tuesday 8 April 2003 in the University of London Union by Professor Peter Reddaway.