Available in Russian
Author: Irina Alebastrova
DOI: 10.21128/1812-7126-2023-3-14-44
Keywords: post-socialist states; constitutions of post-socialist states; forms of government of post-socialist states; democratic state; plebiscitary democracy; plebiscitary republic; parliamentary republic; parliamentary democracy; representative government; semi-presidential republic; dissolution of parliament; political responsibility of government
The article attempts to comprehend one of the most noticeable features of the constitutional models of State structure in democratic post-socialist countries, namely, the combination of a significant increase in parliament’s role along with the weakening of presidential power, together with direct presidential elections in the most of these countries. The contribution of post-socialist States’ constitutions to the enrichment of parliamentarism is analyzed using the example of procedures for formation of a government and for its termination, as well as for the dissolution of parliament. The analysis of those procedures allows the author to conclude that the constitutions of post-socialist countries are characterized by a significant strengthening of parliament’s role in determining the composition of the government and deciding on the termination of its powers, as well as by parliament’s increased political control over the government and by the president’s reduced control. The author comes to the conclusion that post-socialist countries’ constitutionally enriched arsenal of mechanisms for strengthening parliament and directly electing the president are compensatory measures for the recent socialist past, which lacked both the influence of representative bodies in the State mechanism and the practice of elections offering real alternatives. In addition, direct election of the president is aimed at reinforcing his possible role as a mild counterweight to the power of the parliamentary party majority and to the aspirations of this majority to further its narrow party interests. The author believes that these trends result from the developers of these constitutions and amendments rethinking the elements of plebiscitary and representative democracy in the mechanism of a modern democratic state. They also express the desire of these constitutional framers to prevent the revival of authoritarianism. This represents a significant contribution by post-socialist states to the development of possible models of state power organisation in parliamentary republics and to the nuances of the system of checks and balances.
About the author: Irina Alebastrova – Doctor of Sciences in Law, Moscow, Russia.
Citation: Alebastrova I. (2023) Predstavitel’noe pravlenie i plebistsitarnaya demokratiya: novaya popytka garmonizatsii na postsotsialisticheskom prostranstve [Representative government and plebiscitary democracy: a new attempt at harmonization in the post-socialist space]. Sravnitel’noe konstitutsionnoe obozrenie, vol. 32, no. 3, pp. 14–44. (In Russian).
References
Ackerman B. (2000) The New Separation of Powers. Harvard Law Review, vol. 113, no. 3, pp. 633–729.
Balobaev V.A. (2012) K voprosu o razvitii instituta parlamentarizma v Pol’she [On the development of the parliamentarism institution in Poland]. Vestnik Baltiyskogo federal’nogo universiteta imeni I.Kanta. (In Russian).
Cheibub J.A., Limongi F. (2011) Legislative-Executive Relations. In: Ginsburg T., Dixon R. (eds.) Comparative Constitutional Law, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, pp. 211–233.
Glebov V.A., Makukhin A.V. (2016) Evolyutsiya konstitutsionnoy i partiyno-politicheskoy sistemy Pol’shi v period 1997–2001 gg. [Evolution of the constitutional and political party system of Poland (1997–2001)]. PolitBook, no. 1, pp. 108–119. (In Russian).
Medushevskiy A.N. (2003) Rossiyskaya konstitutsiya v mirovom politicheskom protsesse: k desyatiletiyu Konstitutsii RF 1993 g. [The Russian constitution in the world political process: on the tenth anniversary of the Constitution of the Russian Federation in 1993]. Mir Rossii, no. 3, pp. 62–103. (In Russian).
Mishin A.A. (2013) Konstitutsionnoe (gosudarstvennoe) pravo zarubezhnykh stran: uchebnik dlya vuzov [Constitutional (state) law of foreign countries: a textbook for universities], 17th ed., Moscow: Statut. (In Russian).
Kenenova I.P., Troitskaya A.A., Shustrov D.G. (2014) Sravnitel’noe konstitutsionnoe pravo v doktrine i sudebnykh resheniyakh [Comparative constitutional law in doctrine and judicial decisions], Moscow: URSS. (In Russian).
Krasnov M.A. (2018) Vvedenie v konstitutsionnoe pravo s raz’yasneniem slozhnykh voprosov [An introduction to constitutional law: explaining complex concepts], Moscow: Izdatel’skiy dom Vysshey shkoly ekonomiki. (In Russian).
Kynev A.V. (2002) Institut prezidentstva v stranakh Tsentral’noy i Vostochnoy Evropy kak indikator protsessa politicheskoy transformatsii [The presidency institution in countries of Central and Eastern Europe as indicator of the process of political transformation]. Polis. Politicheskie issledovaniya, no. 2, pp. 126–137. (In Russian).
Nechkin A.V. (2019) Forma pravleniya v gosudarstvakh mira: problemy klassifikatsii i puti ikh vozmozhnogo resheniya [Form of government in countries around the world: classification problems and their possible solutions]. Lex Russica, no. 5, pp. 132–147. (In Russian).
Nussberger A. (2008) Ogranicheniya prezidentskoy vlasti v postkommunisticheskikh stranakh [Setting limits and setting limits aside – the constitutional framework of presidential power in post-communist countries]. Sravnitel’noe konstitutsionnoe obozrenie, vol. 17, no. 5, pp. 53–68. (In Russian).
Ostrogorskiy M. (1997) Demokratiya i politicheskie partii [Democracy and political parties], Moscow: ROSSPEN. (In Russian).
Partlett W., Kupper H. (2022) The Post-Soviet as Post-Colonial: A New Paradigm for Understanding Constitutional Dynamics in the Former Soviet Empire, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Pomiguev I.A. (2022) Pravo veto kak priznak pravyashchey politicheskoy elity [Veto as a sign of the ruling political elite]. Vlast’, no. 6, pp. 71–76. (In Russian).
Sadokhina N.E. (2013) Dualizm formy pravleniya v sovremennykh gosudarstvakh [Dualism of the form of government in modern states]. Vestnik Tambovskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Seriya: Gumanitarnye nauki. Pravo, no. 12, pp. 440–445. (In Russian).
Sajó A., Uitz R. (2021) Konstitutsiya svobody: vvedenie v yuridicheskiy konstitutsionalizm [The constitution of freedom. An introduction to legal constitutionalism], D.V.Sichinava, E.A.Zakharova (transl.), Moscow: Institut prava i publichnoy politiki. (In Russian).
Sajó A. (2001) Samoogranichenie vlasti (kratkiy kurs konstitutsionalizma) [Self-restraint of power (a short course of constitutionalism)], Moscow: Yurist. (In Russian).
Shugart M.S., Carey J.M. (1992) Presidents and Assemblies: Constitutional Design and Electoral Dynamics, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992.
Schumpeter J. (2008) Teoriya ekonomicheskogo razvitiya: kapitalizm, sotsializm i demokratiya [Theory of economic development: capitalism, socialism and democracy], V.S.Avtonomov, M.S.Lyubskoy, A.Yu.Chepurenko (transl.), Moscow: Eksmo. (In Russian).
Skach C. (2005) Borrowing Constitutional Designs. Constitutional Law in Weimar Germany and the French Fifth Republic, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Slezhenkov V.V. (2020) Poluprezidentskaya (smeshannaya) respublika: istoricheskie korni i problemnye aspekty terminologii (opyt frantsuzskoy politiko-pravovoy nauki) [Semi-presidential (mixed) republic: historical roots and problematic aspects of terminology (the experience of French political and legal science)]. Advances in Law Studies, no. 4, pp. 16–20. (In Russian).
Tsebelis G. (2002) Veto Players: How Political Institutions Work, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Varnavskiy A.G. (2010) Smeshannaya (poluprezidentskaya) forma gosudarstvennogo pravleniya: prichiny i usloviya stanovleniya, faktory transformatsii v sovremennykh usloviyakh [Mixed (semi-presidential) form of government: causes and conditions of formation, factors of transformation in modern conditions]. Sotsial’no-ekonomicheskie yavleniya i protsessy, no. 4, pp. 102–106. (In Russian).
Weber M. (1990) Izbrannye proizvedeniya [Selected works], Moscow: Progress. (In Russian).
Weber M. (2003) Politicheskie raboty (1895–1919) [Political works (1895–1919)], B.M.Skuratov (transl.), Moscow: Praxis. (In Russian).
Wintr J., Antos M., Kysela J. (2016) Direct Election of the President and Its Constitutional and Political Consequences. Acta Politologica, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 145–163.
Yudin G. (2021) Rossiya kak plebistsitarnaya demokratiya [Russia as a plebiscitary democracy]. Sotsiologicheskoe obozrenie, no. 2, pp. 9–47. (In Russian).
Zaznaev O.I. (2018) Institut pryamykh prezidentskikh vyborov v parlamentskikh respublikakh [The institution of direct presidential elections in parliamentary republics]. Izvestiya Saratovskogo universiteta. Seriya: Sotsiologiya. Politika, no. 1, pp. 82–86. (In Russian).
Zaznaev O.I. (2007) Parlamentarizatsiya poluprezidentskoy sistemy (na primere Finlyandii) [Parliamentarization of the semi-presidential system (on the example of Finland)]. Uchenye zapiski Kazanskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Seriya: Gumanitarnye nauki, no. 3, pp. 100–111. (In Russian).
Zenkin S.A. (2018) Konstitutsionno-pravovoy status prezidentov Bolgarii i Serbii: sravnitel’naya kharakteristika [Constitutional status of Serbian and Bulgarian presidents: comparative characteristics]. Vestnik universiteta imeni O.E.Kutafina, no. 6, pp. 124–153. (In Russian).