National legal policy concepts as an integration tool: a comparative legal analysis of the EAEU member states

Available in Russian

Error

Author: Dmitriy Galushko

DOI: 10.21128/1812-7126-2025-4-52-74

Keywords: legal policy; Eurasian Economic Union; integration; adaptability; proper implementation; sovereignty

Abstract

The effectiveness of regional integration within the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) increasingly depends on the coherence and adaptability of its member states’ national legal policies. This study examines the extent to which the legal systems of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Armenia are adapting to the supranational legal order of the EAEU. The central problem lies in the inherent tension between national sovereignty and integration commitments, which manifests differently across member states, potentially hindering the Union’s deeper integration and uniform application of its law. Methodologically, the article employs a comparative legal analysis, focusing on primary strategic documents — national legal policy concepts — as well as constitutional provisions and legislative mechanisms governing the implementation of EAEU law. This approach allows for a systematic identification of convergences and divergences in how each state conceptualizes its integration path. The analysis reveals a spectrum of adaptation strategies. Belarus demonstrates a committed yet sovereignty-conscious approach within its legal policy framework. In contrast, recent legal policy concepts of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan show a diminishing explicit focus on EAEU integration, prioritizing internal reforms and global standards instead. The most complex case is Armenia, characterized by the absence of a unified legal policy concept, constitutional ambiguities regarding the transfer of sovereign powers, and a declared policy of pursuing closer ties with the European Union alongside its EAEU membership. This “parallel integration” creates significant systemic legal risks, contradictions, and challenges to the principle of uniform application of Union law. The study concludes that the successful implementation of EAEU law requires moving beyond formal recognition of international treaty supremacy. It necessitates the development of sophisticated national mechanisms for proper implementation, which creatively transpose supranational norms while respecting national legal traditions and specificities. The findings highlight the critical role of strategic legal planning documents in guiding this process and underscore the potential legal fragmentation risks arising from inconsistent national approaches. This research contributes to forecasting areas of legal conflict within the EAEU and suggests pathways for better harmonization of member states’ legal policies to strengthen the Eurasian integration project.

About the author: Dmitriy Galushko – Doctor of Sciences in Law, Professor, Department of Legal Regulation of Economic Activity, Faculty of Law, Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, Moscow, Russia.

Citation: Galushko D. (2025) Natsional'nyye kontseptsii pravovoy politiki kak instrument integratsii: sravnitel'no-pravovoy analiz na primere gosudarstv — chlenov EAES [National legal policy concepts as an integration tool: a comparative legal analysis of the EAEU member states]. Sravnitel'noe konstitutsionnoe obozrenie, vol.34, no.4, pp.52–74. (In Russian).

References

EmptyAgdarbekova Z.T., Mul'kubaeva Sh.R., Zhagalov R.B. (2017) Kontseptsiya pravovoy politiki Respubliki Kazakhstan — novyy etap v sovershenstvovanii pravovoy sistemy [The concept of the legal policy of the Republic of Kazakhstan — a new stage in the improvement of the legal system]. Mezhdunarodnyy zhurnal eksperimental'nogo obrazovaniya, no.1, pp.88–91. (In Russian).
Alter K.J., Raustiala K. (2018) The Rise of International Regime Complexity. Annual Review of Law and Social Science, vol.14, pp.329–349.
Avdeev V.A., Avdeeva O.V. (2015) Pravovoe vozdeystvie i pravovaya politika: voprosy institutsionalizatsii i instrumental'noy sushchnosti [Legal impact and legal policy: issues of institutionalization and instrumental essences]. Yuridicheskiy mir, no.11, pp.19–23. (In Russian).
Baldwin R. (2019) The Globotics Upheaval: Globalisation, Robotics and the Future of Work, London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson.
Beck U. (2001) Chto takoe globalizatsiya? Oshibki globalizma — otvety na globalizatsiyu [What is globalization? Errors of globalism — answers to globalization], A.Grigor'ev, V.Sedel'nik (transl.), Moscow: Progress-Traditsiya. (In Russian).
Butler W.E., Entin M.L., Entina E.G., Torkunova E.A. (2020) Greater Eurasia: In Search of a Legal Order. Polis. Politicheskie issledovaniya, no.4, pp.9–23.
Butorina O.V. (2021) Tseli regional'noy integratsii: sovremennoe ponimanie [Goals of regional integration: a modern understanding]. Mirovaya ekonomika i mezhdunarodnye otnosheniya, no.10, pp.5–14. (In Russian).
Chayka K. (2020) Konstitutsionalizatsiya integratsionnykh pravoporyadkov kak fenomen mezhdunarodnogo prava? [Constitutionalization of integration legal orders as a phenomenon of international law?]. Mezhdunarodnoe pravosudie, no.1, pp.67–78. (In Russian).
Chestnov I.L. (2015) Pravovaya politika v postklassicheskom izmerenii [Legal policy in the post-classical measurement]. Rossiyskiy zhurnal pravovykh issledovaniy, no.2, pp.33–44. (In Russian).
Chupris O.I. (2023) Predposylki prinyatiya i sushchnost' osnovnykh polozheniy Kontseptsii pravovoy politiki Respubliki Belarus' [Prerequisites for the adoption and essence of the main provisions of the concept of legal policy of the Republic of Belarus]. Gosudarstvo i pravo, no.11, pp.170–177. (In Russian).
Dahl R.A. (1991) Modern Political Analysis, 5th ed., Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
De Lombaerde P., Söderbaum F., Van Langenhove L., Baert F. (2010) The Problem of Comparison in Comparative Regionalism. Review of International Studies, vol. 36, no.3, pp.731–753.
Duysenov E.E. (2023) Nekotorye teoreticheskie voprosy integratsii konstitutsionnogo zakonodatel'stva v stranakh EAES [Some theoretical issues of the constitutional legislation integration in the EAEU countries]. Zhurnal rossiyskogo prava, no.4, pp.107–121. (In Russian).
Farnham B. (2004) Impact of the Political Context on Foreign Policy Decision-Making. Political Psychology, vol.25, no.3, pp.441–463.
Friedman L.M. (1975) The Legal System: A Social Science Perspective, New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Galushko D.V. (2006) Vzaimodeystvie Evropeyskogo Soyuza i gosudarstv-chlenov (opyt Irlandii): Dis. … kand. yurid. nauk [Interaction of the European Union and the member states (the case of Ireland): Cand. in law sci.], Kazan'. (In Russian).
Galushko D.V. (2018) Vzaimodeystvie prava Evropeyskogo soyuza s pravom gosudarstv-chlenov i tret'ikh stran [Interaction of European Union law with the law of member states and third countries], Voronezh: Voronezhskiy gosudarstvennyy universitet. (In Russian).
Galushko D.V. (2023) Teoriya i praktika pravovogo regulirovaniya integratsionnykh protsessov v svete vyzovov Brekzita: Dis. … d-ra yurid. nauk [Theory and practice of legal regulation of integration processes in the light of Brexit challenges: Dr. in law sci. diss.], Moscow. (In Russian).
Held D. (1989) Political Theory and the Modern State: Essays on State, Power, and Democracy, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Hooghe L., Marks G. (2019) Grand Theories of European Integration in the Twenty-First Century. Journal of European Public Policy, vol.26, no.8, pp.1113–1133.
Huntington S.P. (1993) The Clash of Civilizations? Foreign Affairs, vol.72, no.3, pp.22–49.
Ispolinov A.S. (2014) Status mezhdunarodnykh dogovorov v natsional'nom prave: nekotorye teoreticheskie i prakticheskie aspekty [A status of international treaties in the national law: some theoretical and practical aspects]. Rossiyskiy yuridicheskiy zhurnal, no.1, pp.189–191. (In Russian).
Kashkin S.Yu. (2020) Rossiyskaya Federatsiya i razvitie integratsionnykh protsessov v sovremennom mire: problemy i perspektivy [Russian Federation and the development of integration processes in the modern world: problems and prospects]. Evraziyskaya integratsiya: ekonomika, pravo, politika, no.1, pp.47–54. (In Russian).
Kelsen H. (2006) General Theory of Law and State, New Brunswick, NJ; London: Transaction Publishers.
Keohane R.O., Nye J.S.,Jr. (2011) Power and Interdependence, 4th ed., Boston, MA: Longman.
Korobova A.P. (2023) K voprosu o ponyatii i strukture pravovoy politiki [On the Issue of the Concept and Structure of Legal Policy]. Teoriya i praktika obshchestvennogo razvitiya, no.7, pp.240–245. (In Russian).
Laffan B., O’Donnel R., Smith M. (1999) Europe’s Experimental Union: Rethinking Integration, Abingdon; New York: Routledge.
Lukes S. (2021) Power: A Radical View, 3rd ed., London: Red Globe Press.
Mal'ko A.V., Elistratova V.V. (2020) Pravovaya politika v sfere Evraziyskogo ekonomicheskogo soyuza: puti optimizatsii [Legal policy in the sphere of the Eurasian Economic Union: ways of optimization]. Pravovaya politika i pravovaya zhizn', no.1, pp.8–14. (In Russian).
Mal'ko A.V., Gayvoronskaya Ya.V. (2018) Doktrinal'nye akty kak osnovnoy instrument pravovoy politiki [Doctrinal acts as the main instrument of legal policy]. Pravo. Zhurnal Vysshey shkoly ekonomiki, no.1, pp.4–25. (In Russian).
Manners I. (2009) The EU’s Normative Power in Changing World Politics. In: Gerrits A. (ed.) Normative Power Europe in a Changing World: A Discussion, The Hague: Netherlands Institute of International Relations, pp.9–24.
Mansurova Zh.T. (2005) Usloviya chlenstva i protsedura prinyatiya novykh gosudarstv v Evropeyskom Soyuze: Avtoref. dis. … kand. yurid. nauk [Membership conditions and procedure for the admission of new states to the European Union: Abstract of a dissertation … candidate of legal sciences], Moscow. (In Russian).
Mokhorova A.Yu., Demidov V.P., Dolzhenkova E. (2023) Vliyanie integratsionnykh protsessov na razvitie natsional'no-pravovykh sistem stran postsovetskogo prostranstva [The influence of integration processes on the development of national legal systems of the post-Soviet countries]. Society and Security Insights, no.2, pp.13–28. (In Russian).
North D.C. (1990) Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Parsons T. (1991) The Social System, London: Routledge.
Rybakov O.Yu., Tikhonova S.V. (2015) Pravovaya politika kak upravlenie pozitivnym pravom: novaya versiya teorii pravovoy politiki [Legal policy as means of administering positive law: a new version of the legal policy theory]. Lex Russica, no.3, pp.7–18. (In Russian).
Spengler O. (1922) Der Untergang des Abendlandes: Umrisse einer Morphologie der Weltgeschichte, München: C.H.Beck.
Shchur-Trukhanovich L.V. (2016) K voprosu o konstitutsionnoy obespechennosti peredachi gosudarstvami-chlenami polnomochiy Evraziyskomu ekonomicheskomu soyuzu i Evropeyskomu Soyuzu [Constitutional guarantees for the transfer by member states of the authority to the Eurasian Economic Union and European Union]. Zhurnal zarubezhnogo zakonodatel‘stva i sravnitel‘nogo pravovedeniya, no.4, pp.69–76. (In Russian).
Udartsev S.F. (2010) Pravovaya politika v Respublike Kazakhstan: novye prioritety razvitiya i preemstvennost' [The law-related policy of the Republic of Kazakhstan: new development priorities and succession]. Vestnik Rossiyskogo universiteta druzhby narodov. Seriya: Yuridicheskie nauki, no.3, pp.86–97. (In Russian).
Weber M. (2004) The Vocation Lectures: “Science as a Vocation”, “Politics as a Vocation”, R.Livingstone (transl.), Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Publishing.
Vylegzhanin A.N., Dudykina I.P. (2016) Ponyatie “mezhdunarodno-pravovaya politika gosudarstva” [The politics of international law as a concept.]. Moskovskiy zhurnal mezhdunarodnogo prava, no.4, pp.21–37. (In Russian).
Vylegzhanin A., Magomedova O. (2022) Mezhdunarodno-pravovaya politika gosudarstva. Sovremennye kontseptsii [International legal policy of a state. Modern concepts]. Mezhdunarodnye protsessy, vol.20, no.3, pp.112–126. (In Russian).