© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���5 | doi �0.��63/ ���050�8-� �340035 INNER ASIA �7 ( �0 �5) �00–��7 brill.com/inas Inner ASIA Why Do Kalmyks Want A New National Leader? Elvira Churyumova Mongolia and Inner Asia Studies Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK ec529@cam.ac.uk Abstract This paper is a brief political and ethnographic commentary on the ‘issues of weakness’ in the current political leadership of Kalmykia. In the Republic of Kalmykia, southwest Russia, ideas about national leaders have been subject to change, depending on the political regime in Russia. Whereas in the Soviet period good leaders, both historical and contemporary, were thought to be skilful managers who did not necessarily have the power to change the course of history, in the post-Soviet period proper national leaders are considered to be those who are endowed with the power to influence his- tory. According to the author, this change in the concept of leadership became possible owing to certain political developments in post-Soviet Kalmykia that allowed alterna- tive ideas to contest some tenets of the Soviet historiography, such ideas remaining largely intact. The tension in Kalmyk historiography between old Soviet and new ideas is unresolved, a situation which is symptomatic of wider tensions and transformations occurring in Kalmyk society itself. Keywords Kalmykia – national leader – politics – memory Introduction Following 17 years of Kirsan Ilyumzhinov’s tenure in power from 1993 to 2010, Kalmykia, a small republic in southwestern Russia, has had a new national leader in the persona of Alexei Orlov since October 2010. Although his appoint- ment to the post was met with widespread relief and renewed expectations, not least because, as many said, ‘no leader can be worse than Kirsan Ilyumzhinov’, now many Kalmyks regret their premature joy. By contrast with his autocratic INAS_017_01_F6_100-117.indd 100 2/25/2015 10:15:52 AM