Constitutional Transformations in Post-Soviet Region: Results of Previous Studies

Armenian Journal of Political Science. 2017. Vol. 16. No. 1. P. 81–112.

Medushevsky A. N.

The article examines political effect of constitutional changes in post-Soviet states during the last 25 years. All constitutional amendments adopted in post-Soviet states are analyzed and systematized to ensure the balance of constitutional powers under changing social conditions. The article introduces the classification of all amendments on the basis of formal juridical criteria and on the set of criteria proposed by political scientists. It reveals the real and potential conflicts between branches of power which could be provoked by the applied forms and methods of constitutional revision. The article makes a detailed analysis of institutes involved in the process of discussion and adoption of amendments as well as formal and informal procedures of the amendment process. To this end the author uses the methods of comparative-legal studies and cognitive constitutionalism. The revelation of real motives of constitutional revision, legal and political forms and technologies provides the possibility of reliable explanation of ambiguous constitutional reform trends, achievements, failures and pitfalls of political transformation. It opens the way for the full-fledged constitutional engineering, independent constitutional monitoring and provides the possibility to forecast the prospective political trends of ''new democracies'' in post-Soviet space.

Publication based on the results of: Конституционные поправки как инструмент трансформации политических режимов в странах постсоветского региона (2017)