ABSTRACT
The Russian Constitution of 1993 has played a critical role in the processes of transition to democracy in Russia and elsewhere. Its adoption has led to the end and definitive renouncement of a grandiose social experiment on building a communist (socialist) society by utilizing physical force. Due to this fact, the current constitution represents a social choice by the Russian society in favour of democracy, liberal values and human rights. On the one hand, this document is a fully-fledged representation of systemic changes seen by the end of the twentieth century worldwide. On the other hand, it is an independent document that to a large extent has determined the course of governmental changes in today's Russia and in other post-Soviet countries. Contemporary discussions of the Russian Constitution, however, put aside the issues of to what extent the constitution has reflected transitional processes around the world; how the process of constitutional modernization has (or has not) fitted into the context of post-Soviet social development in Eastern Europe; how the constitution has impacted on social changes occurring throughout Russia; what areas of social tensions have been revealed during the course of constitutional development; and, finally, given all the above mentioned, what are the prospects for Russia's constitutional system in the future.
