CONTENTS

CONSTITUTIONAL NEWS

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Argentine, Brazil, Bulgaria, Ireland, Israel, Malaysia, Russia, Tunisia

FEATURE:

WIND OF CONSTITUTIONALITY ABOVE THE ARAB WORLD

Andrey Rumyantsev

CONSTITUTIONALWPOLITICAL EVENTS IN THE ARAB WORLD IN 2011W2013: CHRONICLE AND FIRST LESSONS

The article analyzes the constitutional and political facts and tendencies are been watching in the countries of the Arab world during last two and a half years. The conclusions based on this analysis concerns the correlations between interstate and international dimensions, valuable and pragmatic motivations in politics. The revision of certain terms of constitutional law has been made.

Key words: change of political regime; constitutional monarchy; legitimacy; Sunnites and Shiites; democracy; human rights; geopolitics; Realpolitik; values.

Andrey Rumyantsev – Doctor of Law.

Olivier Roy

THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE ARAB WORLD

The article shows the key tendencies are been watching in the countries of the Arab East. The author put at the center of his attention the role and position of Islam are been examining in the context of social, economic and political development. The original interpretation of the events, according to which the strengthening of Islam fundamentalism can lead to the foundation of pluralistic society, has the special interest for the readers.

Key words: Islam; Salafites; traditional islamists; pluralism; individualization of the world view choice; religion and religiosity.

Olivier Roy – Professor, European University Institute, Florence.

Rafaa Ben Ashur, Sana Ben Ashur

DEMOCRATIC TRANSFORMATIONS AND POLITICAL REFORM IN TUNISIA: BETWEEN CONSTITUTIONAL LEGALITY

AND REVOLUTIONARY LEGITIMACY

The article reflects the most important events of the constitutional development of the Tunisia after the overthrow of Ben Ali regime in January 2011. At first the development was progressive, but after the Constituent Assembly elections which function is supposed to create and adopt the new Constitution, this development stopped.

Key words: revolution; building the constitution; constituent power; transitional period; elections; Ennahda Party.

Rafaa Ben Ashur, Sana Ben Ashur – Professors, Faculty of Law, Political and Social Sciences, Carthago University, Tunisia.

POINT OF VIEW:

BELIEF IN CONSTITUTION

Konstantin Aranovsky, Sergey Knyazev

THE ROLE OF THE CONSTITUTION

IN POLITICALWLEGAL FORMATION OF RUSSIA:

ORIGINAL CIRCUMSTANCES AND MODERN EXPECTATIONS

The article compares the formation of the Russian Constitution with the constitutions of foreign countries; the adopted character of the traditions of

constitutionalism in Russia has been stressed. The authors call for keeping the text of the Constitution from changes, explaining this thesis by the necessity of the formation of constitutional order. From the authors’ point of view, the power of the constitution grounds not only on its spirit and letter, but also on strict perception and sticking to its rules.

Key words: Constitution; constitutional order; constitutional tradition; native and receipted constitutionalism.

Konstantin AranovskyG– Judge of the Constitutional Court of the Russian, Federation, Doctor Hab. of Law, Professor.

Sergey KnyazevG– Judge of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, Doctor Hab. of Law, Professor.

XXI CENTURY:

ELECTORAL TECHNOLOGIES AND POLITICAL PARTIES

Elena Yatsunskaya

THE NEW TECHNOLOGIES OF FUNDRAISING IN THE USA: THE EXPERIENCE OF THE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGNS 2008 AND 2012

This study endeavors to analyze the impact of the new media technologies used during the US presidential election campaigns in 2008 and 2012 on fundraising and contemporary politics, focusing on fundraising schemes utilizing online and mobile applications, the use of which enabled the current President (then a Democratic Party candidate) to raise more funds than the Republicans for the first time in decades by reaching out to a wider audience of Internet users.

Key words: new media communication technologies; US presidential election 2012; social network; online fundraising; Barack Obama; Mitt Romney; John Kerry; John McCain.

Elena Yatsunskaya – Assistant Professor, Center of Local Self-Government Development, Nikolaev, Ukraine, Doctor of Politics.

Svetlana Tyulkina

PROHIBITION OF POLITICAL PARTIES:

EFFECTIVE TOOL TO SQUARE THE CIRCLE

IN THE BUSINESS OF PROTECTING DEMOCRACY?

Procedure to outlaw political parties is known to many modern states; however its e ectiveness in the business of protecting democracy from potential enemies is a highly debated matter. The present paper looks at two jurisdictions – Turkey and Spain – to investigate if dissolution of political parties remains to be an e ective tool to protect democracy. The paper begins with the brief overview of the European standards and practices in relation to provision of political parties as both jurisdictions are member states of the Council of Europe and therefore are bound by the same standards of protection accorded to political parties and also by decisions of the European Court of Human Rights. The introduction is followed by two chapters to outline the legislative regime and practice of banning political parties in selected jurisdictions. Towards the end the paper aims to draw some conclusions and to sum up lessons we can learn from these case-studies to answer the question whether dissolution of political parties is an e ective legal measure to guard democracy and protect it from its potential enemies.

Key words: dissolution of political parties; regulation of political parties activities; self-protective democracies; democracy.

Svetlana Tyulkina – Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Australian Research Council Laureate, Fellowship: Anti-Terror Laws and the Democratic Challenge, Gilbert Tobin Centre of Public Law, Faculty of Law, The University of New South Wales.

PUBLIC SERVICES AND LOCAL PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS

Armen Dzhagaryan

CONSTITUTIONAL NATURE OF PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS AND ITS REFLECTION IN THE MIRROR

OF THE BUDGET SPHERE REFORM

Development of the social state requires constant improving of the institutional mechanism for ensuring decent standard of living, including local public institutions of servicing. However, in order to be e ective in legal and social terms, any changes in this sphere should be based on the constitutional and legal framework and a clear understanding of the nature and purpose of institutions of this kind, the grounds and limits of legislative discretion in their transformation in particular. In the article author provides his understanding of the constitutional nature of municipal institutions and assesses changes in their legal status in the course of the ongoing public sector reform.

Key words: welfare state; local government; local social policy; local public institutions; public services; municipal services; budget sphere reform.

Armen Dzhagaryan – Counselor of the Judge of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, Doctor of Law.

Andrey Vinnitskiy

PUBLIC SERVICES IN THE EU AND RUSSIA: THE CONSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK AND STATUTORY REGULATION

The article examines the constitutional framework and the statutory regulation of the public services in the European Union and the Russian Federation. The author analyzes the contradictions and the drawbacks of the Russian legislation in this sphere. On the basis of foreign experience the author gives reasons for a broader approach to public services and for their division into economic and non-economic services of general interest.

Key words: public services; services of general interest; state service; municipal services; administrative services; social services; universal services.

Andrey Vinnitskiy – Doctor of Law, Assistant professor, Department of Administrative Law, Urals State Academy of Law.

CONSTITUTIONAL ASPECTS OF SOCIAL RIGHTS

Oleg Snezhko

THE RIGHT TO ADEQUATE COMPENSATION FOR WORK

The paper studies the constitutional foundations for adequate compensation for work. By analyzing the practice of the right to remuneration for labour and legal reasoning of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, the author examines the legal nature, purpose and content of the right in question. Demonstrating the contradictions that exist in Russian law in relation to providing a decent standard of living, the article suggests some ways of securing legislative guarantees of the right to adequate compensation for work.

Key words: dignity; compensation for work; labour rights; lawmaking; legal principles; minimum standards; level of income.

Oleg Snezhko – Deputy Head, Department of organizational-methodical provision of local self-government, State Treasury Institution “Moscow Center ‘Open Government’”

PROBLEMS OF REGIONAL LEGISLATION IN RUSSIA

Marat Malikov

CONSTITUTIONAL LEGISLATION OF BASHKORTOSTAN REPUBLIC: CONDITION AND PERSPECTIVES OF DEVELOPMENT

The article analyzes stages of the development of constitutional law, legal system and investigates the mechanism of coordination between federal

and regional legislation, as well as defines peculiarities of legal regulation in the Russian Federation.

Key words: federal and regional legislation; the constituent entities of federation; own legal regulation; parallel legislation; anticipatory legislation; the regionalization of federal legislation.

Marat Malikov – Professor, Chair of History of State and Law and Constitutional Law, Bashkortostan Institute of Social Technologies (branch), Academy of Law and Social Relationships, Doctor Hab. in Law

Zalim Ashkhotov

THE RIGHT OF LEGISLATIVE INITIATIVE IN THE REGIONAL LEGISLATIVE PROCESS:

QUESTIONS OF OPTIMIZATION AT THE PRESENT STAGE

XBY THE EXAMPLE OF KABARDINYBALKAR REPUBLICZ

This paper is aimed at analyzing the Kabardin-Balkar Republic Constitution’s provision specifying legal subjects of the legislative initiative. The use of a retrospective method allowed to establish causal relationships and patterns of regulation of the structure of legislative initiative right’s subjects. The author develops a number of proposals for the quantitative and qualitative optimization of the subjects of legislative initiative on the basis of the conducted research.

Key words: a stage of legislative process; subjects of legislative initiative; regulation of the subjects of the legislative initiative.

Zalim Ashkhotov – Assistant of the Prosecutor of Terskiy region, KabardinBalkar Republic.

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE:

CONSTITUTION OF “THAW” PERIOD

Andrey Medushevsky

COMMUNISM AS SOCIAL UTOPIA AND LEGAL FICTION: THE CONSTITUTIONAL PROJECT

OF THE THAW PERIOD X1961'1964Y

The quite reasonable rejection of nominal Soviet constitutionalism in contemporary political debates does not mean the inappropriateness of substantive studies of its illusions, methods and mistakes. The object of this article is the project of uneven Soviet Constitution of 1964, the original side of which was the strict intention to implement Communism as a legal fiction and basic premise for the juridical construction of the whole social, legal and political system. From this cognitive and anthropological perspective the author reconstructs not only the historical context of this experiment but searches the origins of political ideas of Perestroika era and di culties in the formation of contemporary Russian constitutionalism. Showing the general failure of Communism as a legal ideology the author uses the formula of Spinoza“not to laugh, not to despair but to understand” as a guiding principle.

Key words: communism; legal fiction; legal constructivism; nominal constitutionalism; human rights; political system of Soviet Russia; CPSU; federalism; justice; legal reforms; bureaucracy.

Andrey Medushevsky – Professor of the National Research University – Higher School of Economics.

IN THE RUSSIAN CONSTITUTIONAL COURT:

DECISIONS AND COMMENTS

REVIEW OF THE DECISIONS

OF THE RUSSIAN CONSTITUTIONAL COURT

MARCH V APRIL x2013