Shakhray Sergey

The article deals with the problem of legitimization of power and efficiency of the Constitution, improvement of thesystem of public administration. The history of the creation of the Constitution of 1993 is traced; the model of the ‘dual' legitimationof power is analyzed against the background of modern political and legal realities. The experience shows that the legal fixationof the results of social creativity and new political traditions is possible without interfering with the basic text of the currentconstitution and, accordingly, without creating risks for constitutional stability. Thus, great opportunities remain for improving theelectoral legislation. There are many examples when the electoral legislation was updated without interfering with the text of theconstitution. At the same time, the Basic Law retains an even wider range of possibilities for ‘fine tuning' in accordance with newrealities. The current Constitution of the Russian Federation does not contain legal obstacles to the improvement of the publicadministration system. It is advisable to raise the question of alternatives to the current constitution only when the factsconvincingly indicate the onset of a constitutional crisis. If it is worth talking about alternatives to the 1993 Constitution, then it isnecessary to look not into the past, but into the future. Today it is important to start working on a draft digital constitution. At thesame time, it is necessary to emphasize that this is not about “digitizing” the actual constitutional law, but about a revolutionaryact, which should become the basis and source for legal regulation of the new digital reality and legitimization of the new socialorder that is emerging before our eyes.

The article reveals the laws of choice of the model of constitutionalism, which was the basis for the text of the current Constitution of Russia, as well as the features and perspectives of the self-development of this document. Particular emphasis is placed on the historical role in the creation of our Constitution by the outstanding Soviet and Russian jurist S. S. Alekseev. In addition, the article shows why the constitutional model used allowed to restore the destroyed social harmony and became a reliable platform (and at the same time an instrument) for the construction of a new statehood. The Russian Basic Law has a unique architectonics, a balance of ideas, principles and procedures designed so legally that the document was able not only to reconcile conflicting political forces, but also to give a fruitful impulse to the development of the country for decades to come, to act as a management tool for building the future. Thus, the 1993 Constitution provided the state and society with the basis and value tools of building a new Russian statehood.

The author is one of political and state personalities who had participated firs-hand in design of Russian Federation Constitution which have hit the 20 year mark this year. He talks about importance of the constitution in state development and life. It is stressed that the constitution determines the principals of People – Society – State. He analyzes the times the new Russian fundamental law adoption and states that new Russian constitution “has turned out to be the document of political foresight” and it has described the forming political society structure and new state and economic establishment.