Litigation and Political Transformation: The Case of Russia

Theory and Society. 2017.

Smirnova M., Thornhill C.

This article examines changing patterns of litigation in contemporary Russia, arguing that litigation in Russia challenge us to rethink the socio-legal categories in which litigation is usually analyzed. It claims that litigation in Russia needs to be examined in a perspective adapted to the character of the Russian governance system as a hybrid democratic-authoritarian polity, and it advances a framework for examining the politics of litigation in polities of this type. Notably, the article explains that in Russia litigation is deliberately stimulated by actors in the political system as a means of reinforcing state capacity and systemic nationalization. However, as high-ranking political agents rely on litigation for systemic purposes, they are also required to accept its transformative, norm-producing implications. Finally, the article draws attention to ways in which the case of Russia can illuminate the social and constitutional results of legal mobilization more generally.

Keywords: социология права в России, судопроизводство, litigation in Russia, социология конституции, sociology of constitutions, legal mobilization