ABSTRACT
Russia has completed the first phase of its post-Soviet constitutional passage; Ukraine is enroute. Each country is endeavoring to develop a culture of constitutionalism. The efforts of these post-Soviet states to define their futures in constitutional forms offer an opportunity for comparative constitutional analysis between the two major Newly Independent States of the former USSR. Constitutionalism and the Rule of Law are closely related concepts in Western legal and political theory. Various conceptual approaches are available for capturing and analyzing the comparative aspects of Russian and Ukrainian constitutional development. Russia’s first post-Soviet constitution went into effect on Christmas Eve day 1993. Constitutional development in Russia dates from the early nineteenth century. Constitutional drafting in Russia became a manifestation of the newly emerging political pluralism. The Ukrainian Constitutional Commission invited a number of prominent American and European constitutional specialists to comment on its first effort.
