The article is devoted to the issues of reflecting the essence of Russian federalism on pages of scientific literature. Herein the authors make an attempt to systematize scientific ideas about the process of formation and development of the processes of the government of Russia in the 1990s in order to determine further directions in the search for an answer to the question about the true role of federalism in Russian history. In the first section of the study a variety of approaches to the essence of Russian federalism is presented on the basis of identification of two criteria. Firstly, it depends on the disciplinary affiliation of the researcher, which determines the main focus of the issue. It is noted that if for lawyers the issues of legal consolidation of the subjects of jurisdiction and powers of Russia and its subjects are of particular value, for historians the essential problem in the study of the formation and development of federalism are the subject features of science. Secondly, scientific ideas about federalism depend on the subjective perception of federalism as a phenomenon of public life. This criterion made it possible to carry out a conditional division of scientific works into two levels - works of a theoretical and applied nature. At the theoretical level, federalism is presented as a kind of ideal construction, model, principle of the territorial organization of the state. The studies classified as applied works are presented by the authors as a reaction of the scientific community to the ongoing changes in the field of state building. The ambiguity of the approach to the key definitions of the institution of federalism among practitioners is noted. The main positions that most authors adhere to are named: 1) federalism is a form of government; 2) federalism is the principle of building a federal state, acting as a scientific category, a theoretical model of the federation; 3) federalism is a combination of the form of government (federation) and ideas that make up the doctrinal basis of the federal structure. In the second section of the article the systematization of scientific ideas about the system of principles of a federal state is accomplished. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of such principles as: a voluntary basis for association, the availability of certain properties of state formations that are included in the federation, the availability of its own material and financial base of the federation and its subjects, etc. The result of the work was the revelation of gaps and unexplored spaces in the historiography of Russian federalism at the stage of its formation and development in the 1990s. It is concluded that the authors conventionally classified as "theorists" are studying the federalism as a kind of phenomenon detached from reality, while practical research, on the contrary, is focused on the author's subjective perceptions. The lack of a comprehensive approach in the scientific literature to the peculiarities of the functioning of Russian federalism can be compensated by conducting historical research, the subject of which should be the study of the links between causes and effects, revealing the patterns of phenomena and institutions development. In this connection, it is concluded that there is a need for further analysis of the problems of federalism and the search for solutions based on historical science. Keywords: subjects of the federation; federalism; federal relations; federal system; federation
