Russia’s Non-Transformative Constitutional Founding

European Constitutional Law Review. 2019. Vol. 15. No. 4. P. 644–667.

Partlett W., Krasnov M.

The founding of Russia’s 1993 Constitution undermined its transformative potential – The use of pre-existing Soviet legality during Russia’s 1993 founding period encouraged President Yeltsin to push through a constitution that would ensure presidential dominance over the legislative branch – This presidential centralism has hindered the realisation of the transformative potential of the other parts of the constitution – Any future turn to transformative constitutionalism in Russia will require weakening the power of the Russian presidency – Transformative constitutionalism depends as much on the actual process of constitutional foundation as the text of the constitution.

Keywords: конституционный дизайн, constitutional design, President Yeltsin, Transformative constitutionalism, Constitution of the Russian Federation 1993, Президент Ельцин, Трансфомационный конституционализм, Конституция РФ 1993 г.