Russia s Presidency

Hari Vasudevan This paper attempts an examination of the arrival of the Russian presidency at a position of pre-eminence among the federation's institutions, the ascendancy of Boris Yeltsin and the interests he has come to represent. Proceeding from a discussion of the relative insignificance of the institution at its inception, the paper traces the emergence of the idea of the presidency as the fulcrum of proper government before going on to outline the manoeuvres of the president in his attempt to evoke a new 'state system'. The paper concludes with a discussion of the developments of the last few months culminating in the autumn crisis of 1993.