Thinkers and political figures
Portrait: Presidential Press and Information Office, via Wikimedia Commons (opens in a new tab) · Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
Boris Yeltsin
- Country
- Russia
- Era
- 1931–2007
- Tradition
- Market liberalism, presidentialism
First president of the Russian Federation, who dissolved the Soviet Union, imposed shock therapy and mass privatisation, shelled his own parliament, and handed power to Vladimir Putin.
Documented positions
Documented positions come from the sources listed. Similarity is this project’s inference from those positions, and is a much weaker claim.
- Dissolved the Soviet Union by agreement with Ukraine and Belarus in December 1991
- Implemented rapid price liberalisation and mass voucher privatisation of state industry
- Ordered tanks to shell the Russian parliament in October 1993 after it refused to dissolve
- Pushed through a constitution creating a strong presidency with limited parliamentary checks
- Launched the first Chechen war in 1994
- Presided over the loans-for-shares scheme that transferred major assets to a small group of financiers
- Resigned on the last day of 1999, naming Vladimir Putin acting president
Where it sits on each dimension
Wealth and inequality
Evidence: Well documented
The state in the economy
Evidence: Well documented
Personal liberty
Evidence: Documented
Nation and the world
Evidence: Documented
Power and its limits
Evidence: Well documented
Dimensions left unscored, for want of evidence: Tradition and change, Religion and the state, Environment and growth, Crime and punishment
Sources
- Boris Yeltsin, Midnight Diaries · 2000
- Timothy J. Colton, Yeltsin: A Life · Basic Books · 2008
Last verified: