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Конституционные реформы в России: содержание, направления и способы осуществления
A quarter of a century has passed since the Constitution of the Russian Federation was
adopted in 1993, yet the issue of the results and the prospects for constitutional transformation has not
disappeared from the political agenda. For some, the Constitution signifies an ultimate break up with the
communist past and a legal foundation for the advancement of the Russian society toward democracy and
the rule of law; for the others, it is exactly the Constitution that is the culprit for the authoritarian trend that
has prevailed, and for the sustained stagnation in Russia’s economic, social and political development. The
author of this paper is in the middle of these extreme viewpoints. He believes that the Constitution has truly
played a pivotal role in Russia’s move toward democracy by establishing the basic principles of civil society
and the rule of law, and in this respect, it remains of everlasting and paramount importance. Nevertheless,
that does not mean that it should be utterly inaccessible for changes, especially given the elapsed time and
the negative experience of the authoritarian transformation of the political regime, the amendments that
were introduced between 2008 and 2014, and the current objectives of the democratic movement. The
rationale for changes is to return to the constitutional principles, reaffirm their initial democratic meaning
by rejecting the excessive concentration of the Presidential power, the results of counter-reforms and the
adulteration through legislative and regulatory compliance practices.
Some of the proposed remedies aim to establish a new form of government (Presidential - Parliamentary),
which would necessitate Constitutional amendments – adjustments that would regulate the separation of
powers and redistribution of authority. Others seek to transform the system without changing the text of
the Constitution through legislative reforms, judicial interpretation and the policy of law. Yet, the third
approach prioritizes institutional reforms. Not everything in social development depends on the provisions
of the law, political improvisation and practice can prove just as critical. In their cumulative entirety such initiatives can help avoid the two extremes: that of constitutional
stagnation gravitating toward the bureaucratic asphyxiation, and that of constitutional populism which has
a tendency to destabilize the political system. In its practical activities to transform the political regime, the
opposition ought to remember the maximum repeatedly confirmed by experience, – the further a party is
from power, the more radical tend to be its constitutional proposals. Conversely, empowered groups tend to be
more moderate in their initiatives. In Post Scriptum, the author analyses the whole bulk of the constitutional
amendments proposed by the Russian President at the beginning of the year 2020 in order to understand their
impact and potential influence on transformation of the established Russian constitutional and political system.