Meanings
- the political and economic policies of Boris Yeltsin, after he became the effective ruler of Russia following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991
- disapprovinguncountablethe outward appearance of democracy, while actually concentrating power in a form of authoritarianism
1 more example
It thus seems that the 'constitutional coup' brought about a 'Yeltsinism without Yeltsin', a surgical operation that aimed at prolonging the life of Yeltsinism, even if this entailed the removal of Yeltsin himself and the institution of measures against the corruption and nepotism that had gone beyond all limits in his immediate entourage.
2000, Mohamed Sid-Ahmed, Al-Ahram Weekly, Issue No. 464, Putin's impossible equation - disapprovinguncountablethe economic and social chaos as a result of the decline of the authority of the Russian state
All the while, a bogeyman served him well—not a return to communism, Yeltsin’s scarecrow, but the chaos of Yeltsinism.
2015, Stephen Kotkin, Foreign Affairs, CFR, The Resistible Rise of Vladimir Putin
Origin
Cite this entry
Yeltsinism. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Yeltsinism
“Yeltsinism.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Yeltsinism. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Yeltsinism,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Yeltsinism.
Source: Yeltsinism on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.