NEW BOOK

 
 

JUST PUBLISHED: 19 septemBER 2024 (EUROPE/UK/NORTH AMERICA)

This book challenges the common view that the Russian Constitution is a sham or a reflection of Russia’s authoritarian past. By improving our understanding it provides critical guidance to those involved in building democracy in a post-Putin Russia, and more broadly, equips us to better address vulnerabilities in democracies worldwide.

 

Demoptimism spoke with the author, Associate Professor William Partlett:

“I wrote this book for a couple of reasons.

First because I wanted to dispel the idea that Russian politics is just about Vladimir Putin. Constitutional law and justification have played (and continue to play) an important role in the system of Russian authoritarianism. We need to understand this to counter it.

Second the adoption of the 1993 Russian Constitution was a global effort as the former centre of world communism embraced democracy. Seeing where we went wrong in that process helps us better understand key blindspots in our own understanding of democratic constitutionalism.”

 
 

  • This book challenges the common view that the Russian Constitution is a sham or a reflection of Russia's authoritarian past.

    It instead shows that the Russian Constitution was a product of the constitutional 'dark arts', an increasingly common constitutional practice that seeks to guarantee liberal democracy and individual rights in a system of highly centralised power.

    Over time in Russia, the centralisation of power in the president has undermined the constitution's democratic and rights protections. This Russian experience matters for three reasons.

    First, it shows that Russian authoritarianism is neither the personal creation of Vladimir Putin nor a natural reflection of Russian history. It is instead the product of a centralised constitutional system. A democratic Russia is possible but requires more than just Putin leaving office - it also requires breaking with Russia's constitutional commitment to centralisation.

    Second, it demonstrates the role that the constitutional dark arts play in populist authoritarianism around the world. In these contexts, centralisation allows one office to claim popular legitimacy and dominate politics while (generally falsely) also claiming to respect individual rights and democracy.

    Third, it reveals that democratic constitutions are more than legal texts enforced in court. They are more fundamentally political texts that create a balanced state with political checks on the centralisation of political power. These checks and balances do not just limit state power and protect rights; they also enable the state to better understand and advance the general well-being of its citizens.

    This book therefore provides critical guidance to those involved in building democracy in a post-Putin Russia. It is also important to those seeking to better understand the role that constitutions play in shaping both authoritarian and democratic politics.

  • William Partlett is an Associate Professor at Melbourne Law School. He writes and teaches in the field of public law. Before coming to Melbourne, Professor Partlett was an Assistant Professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Columbia University Law School, and a Fellow at The Brookings Institution. Professor Partlett holds a JD from Stanford Law School as well as a DPhil in Soviet History and MPhil in Russian and East European Studies from the University of Oxford (where he was a Clarendon Scholar). He also holds a bachelors degree in International Affairs and Public Policy from Princeton University and speaks Russian.

    Professor Partlett’s research takes a historical and comparative approach to questions of public law. He encourages graduate students interested in the relationship between history and constitutional law to contact him about supervision in Melbourne's masters or doctorate program. A fuller description of his research interests, methodology, and publications can be found at willpartlett.com.

  • 20% discount with code 'GLR BD8' at checkout on the Bloomsbury website. 


 

TASTER TEXT

Why the Russian Constitution Matters

30 years later, the Russian Constitution is generally thought to be a failure.  This conventional wisdom is grounded in the constitution’s early chapters, which guarantee individual rights, the rule of law, and democracy. The failure of these provisions, the conventional view goes, shows that the Russian constitution is a sham that has been unable to resist the return of Russian authoritarianism.

My forthcoming book on the Russian Constitution challenges this conventional view. (…)

 

TASTER TEXT

How long can Vladimir Putin hold on to power?

As the war in Ukraine drags on and sanctions start to bite, key questions are being asked. How long can President Vladimir Putin remain in power? Will he be overthrown in a palace coup, as recent rumours have suggested? And can the system of centralised rule he built outlast him?

We can find neglected answers to these questions in the Russian Constitution. This document, and its forgotten importance to Putin’s authority, (…)