Editing Authoritarian Capitalism (section)

====[[File:Yeltsin.png]] Boris Yeltsin====
*[[File:Yeltsin.png]] '''Boris Yeltsin''' was a Russian and Soviet politician who served as the first president of [[File:Cball-Russia.png]] Russian Federation from 1991 to 1999. Yeltsin was a member of the Communist Party of [[File:Cball-USSR.png]] the Soviet Union from 1961 to 1990 and was a supporter of the [[File:Marketsoc.png]] [[Market Socialism|perestroika reforms]] of Soviet leader [[File:Gorb.png]] [[Liberal Socialism|Mikhail Gorbachev]]. In 1987 he was the first person to resign from the party's governing Politburo, which established his popularity as an [[File:Pop.png]] anti-establishment figure. 

In 1990, he was elected chair of the Russian Supreme Soviet and in 1991 was elected president of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR). On 18 August 1991, a coup against [[File:Gorb.png]] [[Liberal Socialism|Gorbachev]] was launched by pro-communist government members opposed to perestroika. [[File:Gorb.png]] [[Liberal Socialism|Gorbachev]] was held in Crimea while [[File:Yeltsin.png]] [[Illiberal Democracy|Yeltsin]] raced to the White House of Russia which was surrounded by the military, but the troops defected in the face of mass popular demonstrations and [[File:Gorb.png]] [[Liberal Socialism|Gorbachev]] was rescued. Although restored to his position as General Secretary, [[File:Gorb.png]] [[Liberal Socialism|Gorbachev]] had lost his support to Yeltsin due to aforementioned events. Taking advantage of the situation, Yeltsin began taking over what remained of the Soviet government, ministry by ministry, and on 6 November 1991, Yeltsin issued a decree banning all Communist Party activities on Russian soil. 

On 17 December, in a meeting with [[File:Yeltsin.png]] [[Illiberal Democracy|Yeltsin]], [[File:Gorb.png]] [[Liberal Socialism|Gorbachev]] agreed to dissolve the Soviet Union and 8 days later resigned and handed the functions of his office to Yeltsin. On 26 December, the Council of the Republics, the upper house of the Supreme Soviet, voted the Soviet Union out of existence, thereby ending the world's oldest, largest, and most powerful Communist state. 

Just days after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, President [[File:Yeltsin.png]] [[Illiberal Democracy|Boris Yeltsin]] of the [[File:Cball-Russia.png]] Russian Federation with the help of economic advisors such as [[File:Chubais.png]] [[Oligarchy|Anatoly Chubais]] and Acting Prime Minister [[File:Gaidar.png]] [[Neoliberalism|Yegor Gaidar]] initiated a program of radical economic reform that came to be known as [[File:Neoliberal-icon.png]] [[Neoliberalism|"economic shock therapy"]], which consisted of rapid privatization of most public assets, complete dismantlement of the welfare state, and removal of all tariffs and regulations. The results were the emergence of a new elite commonly referred to as [[File:Oligarchy.png]] [[Oligarchy|"the oligarchs"]] consisting of former communist officials who became rich through buying up privatized former state-owned industries. Corruption grew rampant and violent crime became increasingly common. Throughout the 1990s, Russia's GDP fell by 50%, vast sectors of the economy were wiped out, inequality and unemployment grew dramatically, and the standard of living fell. Hyperinflation, caused by the Central Bank of Russia's loose monetary policy, wiped out many people's personal savings, and tens of millions of Russian citizens were plunged into deep poverty.

In 1993, President [[File:Yeltsin.png]] [[Illiberal Democracy|Yeltsin]] marked a constitutional crisis commonly described as a self-coup d'état: first, he ordered the execution of members and supporters of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federation who challenged his authority. Then he abolished the post of vice president, thereby ousting [[File:Rutskoy.png]] [[Populism|Alexander Rutskoy]], who challenged his authority. Then, with [[File:Cball-US.png]] US support, he quickly enacted a new Russian Constitution, not entirely legitimate, by a referendum, which expanded the powers of the president and paved the way for the election of people totally loyal to Yeltsin and the [[File:Oligarchy.png]] [[Oligarchy|oligarchs]] to the new parliament, called the "State Duma".

In December 1994, [[File:Yeltsin.png]] [[Illiberal Democracy|Yeltsin]] ordered to invade the breakaway state of [[File:Cball-Chechen.png]] Chechen Republic of Ichkeria in an attempt to restore Moscow's control over the republic and resource-rich region. The invasion was met with international outcry as the First Chechen War resulted in tens of thousands of civilian casualties and hundreds of thousands more displayed. 

[[File:Yeltsin.png]] [[Illiberal Democracy|Boris Yeltsin]] despite being massively unpopular with the Russian public made the run for a second term in the 1996 Russian presidential election which he won to the dismay of the majority. It is generally believed that Yeltsin won said election through US interference from [[File:Clinton.png]] [[Third Way|the Clinton Administration]] which wanted to prevent a return to socialist rule. After his victory, Yeltsin orchestrated all sorts of techniques to prolong his own rule. The de facto leadership of the country were Yeltsin's friends and relatives, as well as dodgy [[File:Oligarchy.png]] [[Oligarchy|oligarchs]] like [[File:Klepoleg.png]] [[Oligarchy|Boris Berezovsky]] and [[File:Klepoleg.png]] [[Oligarchy|Roman Abramovich]].