What is the New Russian Federalism?

With the sudden rise of Vladimir Putin, Russian federalism made another volte-face. The ambiguous enforceability of Yeltsin\u27s bilateral treaties with the Russian Federation’s non-Russian ethnic republics (formerly ASSRs) - never ratified by legislatures - was made clear by Putin\u27s disregard for executive promises that no longer suited his interests. One of Putin\u27s first presidential decrees, signed days after his inauguration, divided Russia into seven federal districts, each encompassing several republics, oblasts, and okrugs, and each headed by a presidential enforcer tasked to maintain the supremacy of federal law. Lists were rumoured to circulate in the Kremlin of regional leaders to be brought to heel. Putin described his project as the \u27dictatorship of law.\u27 What forces have influenced such sea-changes in Russian federal politics? How might political scientists approach the dynamic of centre-periphery relations in a post-Soviet, and now a post-Yeltsin, Russia? Examination of the conceptual and political struggles to define Russian federalism provides insights into the path of Russian federal development and Russia\u27s difficult democratic transition