PUTIN’S LEADERSHIP

Description

The study of leadership is a crucial to the understanding of the various aspects of post-Soviet political system. The disintegration of the Soviet Union was the epochal event in world history which raised some questions regarding continuity and changes of Russian leadership. Many issues such as identity of the state, role of structures and process of the nation-building were the real concerns before the newly born-State under the backdrop of chaotic polity and fragile social order. Commentator like Fukuyama may have defined the disintegration of USSR as the ‘End of History’. The Soviet Union might now merely be an entity of history; however, at the threshold of the 21st Century, the Russian Federation has forged a new beginning under the strong and visionary leadership of Vladimir Putin. At the beginning of the new millennium, Putin’s leadership marked a turning point in Russia’s political, social, and economic system. Like Peter the Great, Putin signaled the aspirations to take forward the country ‘from above’ along pragmatic lines. Putin brought Russia to the front ranks in world politics by invoking new ideas and path just as Alexander I did early in nineteenth century.