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Zakharchenko O.V.
Constitutional Models in the Paradigms of Russian Constitutionalists of the early XX century
Keywords: constitution, constitutionalism, constitutional projects, rule of law, history of legal and political thought
Despite an apparent importance and clarity of the constitutional principles enshrined in our basic law, strengthening Russian statehood remains a priority. In this regard, to ensure their historical continuity, it is necessary to refer to historical and legal experience and to studying the heritage of the past. The purpose of the research is to study the proposed constitutional models of the state structure based on the legal concepts of Russian constitutionalists of the early XX century, their conceptual significance for the development of political and legal thought and modernity. Materials and methods. The analysis of the works written by representatives of pre-revolutionary Russian legal thought, prominent legal scholars who combined scientific creativity with direct political activity, revealed the specifics of their views on the issue under study. The results of previous author's research on the development of socio-political and legal thought in Russia also contributed to the achievement of this goal. The principles of the study were historicism, comprehensive and objective analysis, and critical evaluation of the material. The methodological basis was made by a set of scientific cognition methods. Along with the general scientific dialectical method of cognition, the author applied historical-legal and comparative-legal methods. Results. It is shown that at the beginning of the XX century, one of the issues developed by representatives of the Russian political and legal thought was the constitutional models of the Russian state structure. It is revealed that the ideologists of the constitutional democratic movement proposed specific samples and drafts of the main law, which provided for the establishment of a constitutional state. Legal constructs were examined that included progressive proposals declaring the fundamental rights of individuals and Russian citizens, their inviolability, and the system of powers separation, which expressed the basic principles of the rule of law. It is determined that theoretical justification of the proposed options is developed in scientific concepts that are valuable and remain relevant for modern legal thought. Conclusions. Constitutional models and scientific concepts of Russian constitutionalists of the early XX century played an important role in the development of the theory of the constitutional and rule-of-law state. They present the ideas of progressive constitutionalism implementation in Russia, taking into account the specifics of the socio-political system development. The constitutional draft of S.A. Muromtsev deserves special attention, he proposed a conceptual model that became the programmatic basis of the constitutional movement. The proposed constitutional reform projects aimed to establish a rule-of-law state and restructure the political system based on its principles.
References
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About authors
- Zakharchenko Olga V.
- Candidate of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor, Department of Public Law, Chuvash State University, Russia, Cheboksary (zaharchenko_ov21@mail.ru; ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4140-1153)
Article link
Zakharchenko O.V. Constitutional Models in the Paradigms of Russian Constitutionalists of the early XX century [Electronic resource] // Oeconomia et Jus. – 2025. – №3. P. 64-72. – URL: https://oecomia-et-jus.ru/en/single/2025/3/6/. DOI: 10.47026/2499-9636-2025-3-64-72.
