Constitution of Russia

Constitution of Russia
Constitution of Russia
Presidential copy of the Constitution.
Presidential copy of the Constitution.
Ratified 12 December 1993
Signatories Citizens of Russia
For the constitution of the Imperial Russia, see Russian Constitution of 1906
Russia

This article is part of the series:
Politics and government of
Russia



Other countries · Atlas
Politics portal
view · talk · edit

The current Constitution of the Russian Federation (Russian: Конституция Российской Федерации; pronounced [kənsʲtʲɪˈtutsɨjə rɐˈsʲijskəj fʲɪdʲɪˈratsɨɪ]) was adopted by national referendum on 12 December 1993. Russia's constitution came into force on 25 December 1993, at the moment of its official publication. It replaced the previous Soviet-era Constitution of 12 April 1978 of Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic following the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis.

Of all registered voters, 58,187,755 people (or 54.8%) participated in the referendum. Of those, 32,937,630 people (54.5%) voted for adoption of the Constitution.[1]

Contents

Declaration of adoption

Dmitry Medvedev takes the presidential oath with his hand resting on the Constitution, 7 May 2008.

"We, the multinational people of the Russian Federation, united by a common fate on our land, establishing human rights and freedoms, civic peace and accord, preserving the historically established state unity, proceeding from the universally recognized principles of equality and self-determination of peoples, revering the memory of ancestors who have conveyed to us the love for the Motherland, belief in the good and justice, reviving the sovereign statehood of Russia and asserting the firmness of its democratic base, striving to ensure the well-being and prosperity of Russia, proceeding from the responsibility for our Motherland before the present and future generations, recognizing ourselves as part of the world community, adopt the Constitution of the Russian Federation."

Structure

The constitution is divided into two sections.

Section One

  1. Fundamentals of the Constitutional System
  2. Rights and Liberties of Man and Citizen
  3. Federative system
  4. President of the Russian Federation
  5. Federal Assembly
  6. Government of the Russian Federation
  7. Judiciary
  8. Local Self-Government
  9. Constitutional Amendments and Revisions

Section Two

  1. Concluding and Transitional Provisions

Overview

The Russian Constitution has entrenched world standarts for human rights and basic principles of democratic state-building such as ideological neutrality of the state, political pluralism, competitive elections and seperation of powers. The constitution establishes a super-presidential system, resembling the French system but with stronger executive power due to the increased independence of the president in comparison to the French model.[2]

Presidential powers

The President of the Russian Federation holds primary power in the Russian government system. The President who is elected fpr a six year term, is the head of state and the Supreme Commander in Chief.[3] He determines "guidlines for the domestic and foreign policy of the state". Although the President may preside over Government meetings, he is not the head of the Russian Government. As the head of the state the President appoints the members of the Government and directs it's activities. While in general the presidential "direction" of the activities of the Government is limitied to establishing guidlines, under the 1997 Constitutional Law on the Government the President has a special authority over ministries dealing with defense, security, internal and foreign affairs.

Legislative Branch

Internal checks and balances within the legislative power work through the procedure of the Federation Council's reviewing of the laws adopted by the State Duma and giving it's consent to them. In the case of the bill rejection by the Federation Council, the State Duma in it's turn may override the rejection by a two thirds vote. The legislative branch may check the presidential power of the Russian Federation through hearing the addresses of the President by both houses of the Federal Assembly; giving approval to the decree of the president on the introduction of martial law and state of emergency; granting consent to the president for the appointment of the chairman of the government, the chairman of the Central Bank, the Procourator General, members of the Constitutional Court, Supreme Court and more.


See also

References

  1. ^ Constitution of Russia: nature, evolution, modernity 1.4.2 National character. (Russian)
  2. ^ Andrea Chandler, "Presidential Veto Power in Post Communist Russia, 1994-1998", Canadian Journal of Political Science
  3. ^ Articles 80 (1), 81 (1), 87 (1) of the Constitution of Russia

External links


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Russia — This article is about the current country. For other uses, see Russia (disambiguation). Russian Federation Российская Федерация Rossiyskaya Federatsiya …   Wikipedia

  • Constitution of Kazakhstan — Kazakhstan This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Kazakhstan Constitution President (List) …   Wikipedia

  • Constitution of May 3, 1791 — May 3rd Constitution, by Matejko (1891). King …   Wikipedia

  • Russia — • Geography and history Catholic Encyclopedia. Kevin Knight. 2006. Russia     Russia     † Catholic E …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • RUSSIA — RUSSIA, former empire in Eastern Europe; from 1918 the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (R.S.F.S.R.), from 1923 the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.); from 1990 the Russian Federation. Until 1772 ORIGINS The penetration… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • Constitution of Romania — Created 21 November 1991 Ratified 8 December 1991 Authors Antonie Iorgovan et al …   Wikipedia

  • Constitution of Georgia (country) — Constitution of Georgia Constitution of Georgia Created July 2, 1995 …   Wikipedia

  • Constitution of Cyprus — Ratified August 16, 1960 Location Unknown Signatories Members of the Cypriot government …   Wikipedia

  • Constitution of the Republic of China — Traditional Chinese 中華民國憲 …   Wikipedia

  • Constitution of Malaysia — Ratified 27 August 1957 Authors Delegates of the Reid Commission and later of the Cobbold Commission Purpose Indepe …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”