Constitutional Modernization in the CIS Countries: New Trends

Abstract

New trends resulting from the most considerable changes in the constitutions of the CIS countries and several other states of the former Soviet Union are analyzed. The constitutional model developed in Eurasian states of this region is transitional, incomplete, and hybrid, which predetermines the need for further modernization (novelization) of the constitutions. The common features of the initial period of independent development in this group of countries are undergoing substantial transformations; there have emerged multidirectional vectors of constitutional modernization with account for characteristic traits of the evolution of the political and legal systems of different states. The author’s conclusions concern the regimentation of the foundations of constitutional systems, forms of state, and human rights—the main subjects of constitutional–legal regulation in any state and the most important objectives of constitutional reform for constitutions under modernization. Study of the trends in the constitutional development of the post-Soviet countries of Eurasia, which is of significant interest for political sciences, contributes to the elaboration of the theory of postsocialist states and their constitutions.