Liberal constitutionalism as a basis of ideology of Yeltsin Russia (analysis of presidential messages to the Federal Assembly)

The article considers the political ideological aspect of post-perestroika Russia development during Yeltsin's presidency. This period is considered to be the most de-ideologized. However, the author believes that in 1990-s there was not so much de-ideologization, as radical reorientation of the official state ideology from communist ideology to the Western one in the form of liberal constitutionalism. During this period the generalized "enemy image" was not an external object, but an internal one (anti-democratic opposition). The main problematic features of the Russian state ideology of the 1990-s had been a strong detachment from the practice and the inclination to populism, which in general led to increasing distance between the ruling groups and the rest of the population, the decline in the prestige of the supreme power.