The history of Russia’s 1993 Constitution goes back

The research on Russia’s 1993 Constitution by the Chinese constitutional circles mainlyfocuses on constitutional norms and constitutional systems, with rare historical attention. In order tohave a complete and profound understanding of the current Constitution of Russia, it is not enough tofocus solely on the constitutional system, but also to know “where the 1993 Constitution came from”. Russia’s current constitution, which was adopted and entered into force in 1993, was enacted at a special historical time. At that time, Russia’s economic situation was unstable, and a new political order was in the process of forming. During this period, the revision of the 1978 Constitution and the enactment of a new Constitution were carried out simultaneously. According to the amended 1978 Constitution, there are elected presidents and elected people’s congresses, and the government is accountable to both the people’s congresses and the president. This form of regime organization is different from the typical form of political organization in other countries of the world. To some extent, there are two power centers in Russia: the president and parliament.The President and the Parliament were deeply divided on economic policy. As times goes on, the political disputes between the two become more and more intense, affecting not only the revision of the old constitution, but also the formulation of the new constitution. Both the president and parliament want a new constitution that strengthens their position and power. In April 1992, the Sixth People’s Congress adopted the basic provisions of the new draft constitution. However, the President proposed amendments to the Constitutional Council, which is responsible for formulating the draft constitution. In the draft constitution later published by the Constitutional Council, the Powers of the President were expanded. The Parliament was very dissatisfi ed with this. In determining the schedule of the Seventh People’s Congress, only the agenda of the old Constitution had been amended and the draft new Constitution had not been discussed.In December 1992, the Seventh People’s Congress was held and the Parliament weakened the President’s powers by amending the old Constitution. The president believes that the people’s congress attacks the policies of the president and the government, and that the authoritarianism of legislative power is also dangerous. The president proposed holding a referendum in Russia to resolve the power struggle between the president and parliament. After the victory of the President in a general referendum held on 25 April 1993, the President’s side published the draft constitution of the Presidential version and convened a "constitutional assembly". At this point, the parliamentary side also submitted its own draft constitution. In July 1993, the Constitutional Assembly produced a compromise version of the draft constitution, however, did not settle the power struggle between the President and parliament. In September 1993, with the promulgation of Presidential Decree No. 1400, the confl ict between the two sides quickly intensifi ed and eventually turned into an armed confl ict. On 12 December 1993, a draft constitution was adopted by a referendum in Russia, which was formally adopted in 1993.Despite the irreconcilable differences between the President and the Parliament during the 1993 constitution- making process, there are also some commonality in the draft constitutions of the two sides, namely, the recognition and adherence to the concepts of "rule of law" and "civil society". The process of formulating the 1993 Constitution is tortuous, but it may be understood if it is analyzed and examined in such a grand historical context as the transformation of Russian society

“Khrushchev Constitution”: The path of a new constitutionalism

Introduction. Scientific research on the process of preparing and developing the draft Constitution of the USSR in 1964 began to appear only in the post-Soviet period. In Soviet times, this topic was banned, and the project itself, being in the archive, was not available for research. The study of the “Khrushchev Constitution” only started in the post-Soviet period. Since the constitutional reforms carried out in the last decade (2008, 2014, 2020) caused a heated discussion in the scientific community, the study of the draft Constitution of the USSR in 1964 is gaining new relevance, allowing us to look at the process of development of domestic constitutionalism more comprehensively. Theoretical analysis. The study on the development of Russian constitutionalism results in new theoretical material that can be used in Russian state building. The purpose of the publication is to summarize the experience of constitutional design of the Khrushchev Thaw period. The tasks of the research: finding the reasons for the emergence of a new need to develop the Basic Law; defining the attitude of Soviet society to the institution of the presidency; analyzing the content of the draft Constitution of the USSR in 1964. Еmpirical analysis. The end of the era of Stalinism and the beginning of the Khrushchev Thaw period required a conceptual revision of the foundations of the constitutional order in the Soviet state. During the reign of N. S. Khrushchev, there were clear trends towards decentralizing economic management and public administration, and a return to the idea of “socialist legality” became relevant. To solve these problems, the creation of an appropriate legislative base was required, which was supposed to proceed from the Basic Law of the country. However, the existing Constitution of the USSR in 1936 could not provide support for a broad liberalization of the state-party system. As a result of the challenges of the new era, the idea of adopting a new Basic law, called the “Khrushchev Constitution”, arose. Results. This article examines the development of Soviet constitutionalism during the reign of N. S. Khrushchev and concludes that the draft Constitution of the USSR of 1964 made a significant contribution to the formation of the constitutional image of the Soviet state until its collapse. In addition, the content of the “Khrushchev Constitution” allows us to emphasize its much greater democratic potential, in contrast to the USSR Constitutions of 1936 and 1977.

Odwołania do Konstytucji RP z 17 marca 1921 roku i ewolucja rozwiązań konstytucyjnych w projektach ustawy zasadniczej RP z lat 90. XX wieku. Analiza zagadnienia na wybranych przykładach

References to the Polish Constitution of March 17, 1921 and the Evolution Constitutional Solution in the draft Constitution of the Republic of Poland of the 1990s. An Analysis of Selected Examples The Polish constitutional drafts from the 1990s were one of the source texts of the 1997 Constitution of the Republic of Poland. Some of them tried very hard to refer to the solutions of the Polish Constitution of 1921. The article carried out an analysis to what extent the individual constitutional drafts referred to the solutions of the 1921 Constitution. The analysis of constitutional drafts and their similarities to the solutions of the 1921 Constitution were carried out on the basis of comparisons regarding, among others, the parliament, the president of Republic of Poland and legislative initiative.

FEDERALISTIČKE IDEJE U NACRTIMA VIDOVDANSKOG USTAVA

Federalist ideas in the drafts of the constitution in 1921 were one of the features of the process of creating the Vidovdan Constitution. They also marked the later state and legal development of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, the crisis of parliamentarism, dictatorship and later events, until the formation of the Banovina of Croatia and the collapse of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. In the content of the theme of this paper it is worth mentioning the tendencies of the Croatian Republican Peasant Party and the ideas of Stjepan Radić, but also other draft constitutions (eg the draft constitution of Josip Smodlaka and similar draft constitutions). It is especially interesting to consider the idea of Stojan Protić. Although he was an exponent of the policy of the People's Radical Party, he advocated a draft constitution with elements of federalism. These ideas left a deep mark in the constitutional problems of the common state, although the hallmark of its existence, until its collapse, was the aspiration towards unitarism.

«The Constitution of Karel Kramář»: A Draft of Presidential Republic for Russia

The paper is devoted to the examination of the possibility of establishing a presidential republic in Russia after 1917. The authors have investigated the legal stance of the conservative-liberal and liberal-democratic camps in relation to the applicability of the American constitutional model for the organization of the highest executive power. The main part of the study is devoted to the analysis of the draft “Constitution of the Russian State” compiled by the Czech statesman Karel Kramář. The paper has examined the rules of the “Constitution of the Russian State” devoted to the legal status and powers of the Head of State. The study methodology includes such general scientific methods as analysis, comparison, techniques of logic, etc. Private legal methods allowed the authors to reveal and explain the meaning of the “Constitution of the Russian State” (the method of legal hermeneutics), as well as to compare the legal categories and institutions Karel Kramář used to form a presidential republic in Russia (the comparative-legal method). The authors conclude that the draft “Constitution of the Russian State” became one of the specific reflections of “white” constitutionalism.

“Every Line of the Draft of the New Constitution Is Imbued with Concern for Soviet People”: Ideas of Justice and Morality in the Discussion of the 1977 Draft Constitution

The national debate on the 1977 Constitution was one of the mechanisms for interaction between the authorities and society. The analysis of citizens’ proposals shows that there were many groups and points of view in Soviet society. This serves as a basis for criticizing the popular concept of Homo Sovieticus. The concept of Homo Sovieticus presupposed the presence of passive and noninitiative people, who were objects rather than subjects of public life. Within the framework of the methodology of the history of everyday life, it is worth paying attention to the voices “from below”, which will reveal multiple points of view on the Soviet system, and show the activity and subjectivity of Soviet citizens. The source base of the study was the archival materials of the National Discussion of the Draft Constitution of 1977, kept in the funds of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR State Archive of the Russian Federation and in the Latvian State Archive, which allows looking at the situation from a regional perspective. There were no mass popular uprisings within the framework of the discussion of the 1977 Constitution, but many amendments bear the traces of socialist order violations. In the opinion of a considerable number of citizens, the new Constitution, as the main law of the country, was supposed to correct those aspects of the Soviet everyday life that did not fit into the idea of what was right. Most of the proposals concerned changes in specific aspects of life within the system, rather than its fundamental restructuring. People saw the main problems in the discrepancy between their ideas about the correct and fair structure of Soviet society and the elements of reality they faced in everyday life. In the opinion of a significant number of citizens, the new Constitution, as the basic law of the country, was supposed to correct those aspects of Soviet daily life that did not fit in with the idea of what was right. Among the popular topics were: equality of all citizens of the USSR, gender gap between men and women, economic justice, etc. Archival materials show that the National Discussion of the 1977 Draft Constitution was perceived by the population as an effective mechanism for interaction with the authorities and an opportunity to solve pressing problems. A significant part of the population actively participated in the ideological campaign: they did not limit themselves to ritual phrases, but proposed to fix in the text of the Constitution their own ideas about how the Soviet society should be organized. In most cases, these proposals were related to the authors’ personal experience. That is why we see quite a wide range of ideas that were circulating within the Soviet society. Soviet people were not passive objects; they perceived themselves and acted as subjects of the Soviet system. Although in practice not all proposals of the population were reflected in the final text of the 1977 Constitution, but the party and state apparatus received data about problems and expectations of the population, which later on were reflected in the adoption of laws.

Why Italy Was for Europe - On the History of the 1989 Advisory Referendum

In June 1989, Italian citizens had the opportunity to express their opinion about whether the European Parliament (EP) should draw up a constitution for an European Union. This referendum is the starting point and focus of the engagement with Italy’s view on the question of Europe. The «historic» event is hardly ever mentioned in general historical accounts; in non-Italian scholarship, it has gone almost completely unnoticed. The present study aims to counteract this. It distinguishes between two different histories leading up to the referendum: an immediate history that begins in 1979 with the first direct elections for the EP or in 1984 with the adoption of a draft constitution at the end of term of the first EP; and a longer history that begins in 1941 in the middle of the war with the Ventotene Manifesto or in 1945. The excurses into these two pasts are followed by a brief look at what has happened since the referendum.