The Transformation of the Constitutional Control Institute in the Political and Legal Space of Russia
Authors: Evdokimov Vyacheslav , Ushakov Alexey 
Published: July 2019

Introduction. The article presents the author’s interpretation of the process of constitutional control institutionalization in Russia. The paper highlights the dominant factors and main vectors of the constitutional control transformation in the context of modernizing the political and legal systems of the Russian Federation. The authors pay a particular attention to the specifics of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation functioning in the current system of separation of powers and upholding the sovereignty of the Russian state in the context of contradictory modern processes of political globalization.

Methodology and methods. The theoretical and methodological base of the work includes theses of Russian and foreign scientistsconstitutionalists A. Medushevskiy, V.E. Chirkin, L. Fridman, F. Luscher. The theories of political modernization and globalization (A.Yu. Melvil, S. Lantsov, S. Eisenstadt, S. Huntington, I. Wallerstein, Z. Bauman) were used to analyze the functional specificity of constitutional control institute activities in the conditions of forming a global and regional “risk society”, and a new Russian state after the Soviet Union collapse. The empirical base of the study was the following: the Constitution of the Russian Federation; Constitutional and Federal laws of the Russian Federation, other legal documents regulating the activities of state authorities and administration; periodical materials; research results of the leading sociological centers – Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM), Levada-Center.

Analysis. The stages of forming the constitutional control institution and its transformation should be considered in the context of modernizing the Russian state, its political and legal systems. At the same time, the inconsistency of the statist model of political modernization in Russia has a significant impact on modern institutional reinforcement and the practice of implementing the principle of separation of powers, including the political and legal status of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation. The escalation of internal and external risks and threats to the Russian society and state objectively defines a number of restrictions to the comprehensive disclosure of the constitutional justice political potential.

Discussion. The main discussion dominants in analysing factors and directions of the constitutional control institute transformation in modern Russia are the following: the degree of rootedness of constitutionalism principles and constitutional values in the public consciousness of Russian citizens, and first of all among the ruling elite; the effectiveness of implementing constitutional control in comparison with other types of control – public, civil, parliamentary, etc.; the indicators of performance of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation to strengthen Russia as a legal, democratic state while ensuring stable and safe development of the national society.

Results. The article highlights the main stages of the constitutional control institutionalization in the national history. The interrelation of modernization transformations of Russian society and the state with formation and functioning of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation is traced. The paper presents the dominant vectors of the constitutional control institute transformation in the Russian political and legal space, taking into account real and potential risks and threats in the personality-society-state system.