Institute of the Presidency in Russia. Institute of the Presidency in the Russian Federation. Bodies that ensure the activities of the President of the Russian Federation In what year was the institute of presidency established

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in the discipline "Political Science"

1. Institute of presidency (history and present)

1.1 The history of the institution of presidency

The concept of "president" comes from the Latin language, and literally means "sitting in front." Obviously, in ancient times, presidents were called presidents of various meetings. From this original meaning of the word subsequently a position arose, such as, for example, the president of the senate. But in his current understanding, the term "president" was not used either during the time of the Greek or Roman republics, or at the stage of existence of the bourgeois republics in England and the Netherlands. So, in the territory of England, which became republican for a short time, the Council of State exercised executive power instead of the deposed monarch. In the Netherlands, the highest collegiate body also had the competence of the executive branch.

The United States of America became the first country where the office of president appeared, which united in a single person the head of state, as well as the head of government. In addition, it was in the United States that the institution of the presidency was formed as the most important institution of the political structure. In contrast to other states of that period, where the executive power was of a monarchical nature, in the United States the head began to be elected in the process of general elections.

The first European countries where the post of president was introduced as head of state were 2 republics - France, as well as Switzerland. In addition to them, other European states remained monarchies until the end of the 19th century.

In the 20th century, such upheavals as world wars, the split of colonial empires, revolutions led to the formation of many new independent states. Not every one of them became a republic of the presidential type, but in the overwhelming majority the post of the president of the country was created.

The fundamental transformations that have taken place on the world stage since the late 1980s have stimulated further popularization of the institution of presidential power. Almost in every former republic of the USSR, as well as the republics of the former SFRY, in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, the post of president was established. This post was formed by Mongolia. At present, the presidency is an obligatory element of the political systems of a large number of countries in Europe, Asia, America, and Africa. At the same moment, each country itself predetermines what role the president should play in its social and political life. In Russia, the post of president has been introduced since 1992.

The powers of the head of state, his position in the political life of a country are predetermined primarily by the relevant norms of the Constitution.

In addition to establishing the legal status of the president as head of state or as head of the highest executive power, numerous constitutions contain a list of socially important moral and political, as well as civic obligations that the president must follow during the entire term of his own powers. First of all, the president is required to comply with the Constitution and other laws of his country in all his actions at all times.

The basic law of some countries assigns to the president the role of arbiter among various forces in the country and society. By virtue of the French Constitution, the president must ensure, through his arbitration, the normal operation of the public authorities. The modern Russian Constitution assigns a similar role to the president: the president must take measures to protect the independence of the Russian Federation, its independence, as well as state integrity, ensures the functioning of government bodies in the state.

The norms of the Constitution of many countries provide: the president in his work should not protect the interests of some individual social subgroups and strata, but achieve the good of society as a whole.

Such obligations, as well as the officially established standards of the work of the president, are aimed at strengthening the authority of the post of head of state.

The emergence of certain management systems in various states is due to many factors. A significant imprint on this process is left by the specifics of the historical formation of the country, the specifics of its socio-political culture, the traditions of statehood, the parity of various political forces during the development and approval of the constitution. Of great importance in the selection of a system of government is the subjective factor, which manifests itself in the person of a political leader, under whom the entire structure of state power and leadership is built to a significant extent. Due to the fact that in some countries a parliamentary system of government has been established, in which the function of the head of state is performed by a constitutional monarch or president, however, the true executive power is concentrated in the hands of the government, which is accountable to parliament, while in others the direction to create a strong presidential power balanced by other institutions prevailed. or superior in its own powers to the legislative, as well as the judiciary. On the current political map of the world there are countries that do without a presidential post at all, which confirms the diversity of forms of statehood. According to this model, the president is endowed with broad and diverse powers, but he acts only within the framework of the federal executive power, and also, due to the principle of differentiation of powers, does not have the right to single-handedly manage the entire state apparatus. Its full partners, as well as counterbalances in this area, are Congress and the Supreme Court.

1.2 Institute of presidency in the system of separation of powers

According to the concept of separation of powers, the presidential power is usually considered as the executive power. Often, the corresponding provision is contained in constitutions (USA 1787, Philippines 1986, Brazil 1988, Azerbaijan 1995, etc.). However, many basic laws do not characterize the power of the president. In a word, in the constitutions of the countries of the world, the question of the nature of presidential power does not have an unambiguous answer; often it is not given any characterization in the concepts of separation of powers.

This lack of certainty in most new constitutions, especially those adopted in the last decade, is not accidental. In the modern conditions of many countries, presidential power occupies a special position; it, like “government power”, is characterized by originality.

Determining the nature of presidential power, one should proceed from the interpenetration of various branches of the well-known triad: with an undoubted dominant in each branch of power that determines its essence, in any of them there are some, sometimes small, and often significant elements that are generally characteristic of the other branch. . From the foregoing, we can conclude that the nature of presidential power cannot be “rigidly” tied to only one of the elements of the triad of separation of powers, especially under certain forms of government.

To understand the nature of presidential power, one should keep in mind not only the fragility of the boundaries between the branches of power and the process of branching off new branches, but also three other points, the system of checks and balances of the authorities, their interdependence and the correct interpretation of the provision on the unity of state power. In a democratic system, presidential power cannot be unlimited.

When assessing the place of presidential power in society, it is necessary to take into account not only the separation of powers with subsequent refinements of this concept, but also the equally important problem of the interaction of authorities and, in general, the unity of state power itself.

1.3 The main characteristic features of the modern institution of the presidency

“In most cases, the institution of the presidency is the head, designed to personify and ensure the state integrity and unity, the effective functioning of all “authorities”, primarily the executive.”

The president can occupy a different position in the system of state power: to be only the head of state (Germany), at the same time the head of state and executive power (Brazil, USA), the head of state and the actual head of the government in the presence of a special position of administrative prime minister (Egypt, France). The president is elected for a fixed term: three years in Latvia, four years in the US, five years in Brazil, six years in Egypt, seven years in Kazakhstan and France. There have been, however, "presidents for life" and also presidents who have held office by other means than elections.

Modernization theory emerged in the 1950s. to justify Western policy towards developing countries. As the well-known Russian political scientist A. I. Solovyov points out, “at that time, the term “modernization” meant both the stage (state) of social transformations and the process of transition to modern societies. It carried normativity, the predestination of the transition to "modernity", the embodiment of the criteria of modern society, which must be taken into account by underdeveloped societies.

The above point of view existed until the end of the 1960s. 20th century and often justified. However, the growth of new industrialized countries in Asia has somewhat changed the understanding of political modernization as a process of full borrowing of Western standards of political order. The experience of Japan, South Korea, Thailand and Singapore showed that not all political institutions, taken as models from the developed Western countries, worked on the new soil as effectively as in the indigenous political systems.

The experience of successful modernization shows that “the optimal form of political superstructure during the formation of capitalism is centralization, authoritarianization of state power. The ultimate concentration of state power in the hands of the ruling elite, most often personified in one person, in a society consisting of antagonistic social forces, is in a certain sense objectively conditioned during a period of global structural changes.

Spontaneous modernization is typical for the countries of the first echelon of capitalist development, which include Great Britain, France, Holland, Northern Germany, partly Northern Italy, Switzerland, and later the United States of America and Canada (4).

The second echelon of modernization is represented by the countries of Eastern and South-Eastern Europe, Japan, Turkey and Russia. In them, due to the borrowing of advanced experience, there was an accelerated passage of that path, overcoming which took decades and even centuries for more developed states. Moreover, Japan succeeded in the second half of the 20th century. to become one of the countries of the first echelon, and in many ways - to surpass them.

In addition, a significant proportion of countries engaged in catching up modernization is the so-called third tier, which includes the vast majority of states in Asia, Africa and Latin America, which are characterized by a bizarre combination of traditionalism and “enclaves of modernity” .

During the period of social modernization, the role of state power increases sharply, which is forced to respond to numerous challenges and threats to political stability. The state acts as the organizer of modernization, its main agent. Therefore, under these conditions, an authoritarian regime is becoming widespread, with varying degrees of efficiency trying to solve the problems of development.

As historical experience shows, authoritarianism is inherent both in the countries of the first echelon and in societies of belated modernization. In this regard, we can recall the phenomenon of Bonapartism in European societies, which was pointed out by the famous Russian orientalist, academician N. A. Simonia. It is understood as “an authoritarian political regime based on the army and politically undeveloped social strata. At the same time, state structures become a means of preserving and strengthening the personal power of the head of state, using practically unlimited manipulation.

The irreducibility of modernization to democratic modernization is nevertheless conditional to a sufficient extent, since the result of socio-political modernization is often anti-democratic regimes, although they declare the building of a democratic society. This is largely due to the fact that the modernization projects carried out in most transition countries are based in their theoretical constructions on changes in the essence of the structural or functional characteristics of political institutions, considering their improvement almost the only way to change both the political culture of society and the political system. generally. The demand for rapid economic growth was also identified with a radical transition to democratic norms and procedures as a condition for the accelerated development of society. A number of Western authors, however, consider this view to be erroneous, because the acceleration of the pace of democratic reforms can be followed by an equally rapid rollback, threatening to lose the stability of the political system.

As practice has shown, most of the countries that embarked on the path of political modernization, at the forefront of which was the priority of achieving democratic standards, fixed the presidential form of government in their constitutional structure. This can serve as one of the main patterns of development of the institutional subsystem in the period of modernization. This pattern is by no means accidental. There are several reasons for this.

The first reason lies in the specifics of the political systems of modernizing societies, which were characteristic of them before the beginning of the transformations. As a rule, these states had authoritarian or totalitarian political systems. The strictly hierarchical structure of political power could not be eliminated in a short time. Moreover, the transition to a system with a democratic structure often caused upheavals that nullified all the efforts of the reformers and led society to the next round of authoritarian development. Typical examples are Iran and Indonesia. So until the early 1980s. 20th century there was an attitude to recognize the role of a necessary condition for ensuring the stability and consolidation of society behind some strengthening of authoritarian tendencies during the period of modernization. Although foreign researchers tend to believe that "when creating new political institutions, one should be guided by the principles of justice, and not by instrumental rationality."

The second reason has deeper foundations, it lies in the field of political and cultural preferences of a modernizing society and is related to the level of legitimacy of new, taking root structures. Take, for example, the region of Central Asia. As A. M. Khazanov writes, “Currently, Central Asia is overburdened with the past. Not only the traditions and institutions dating back to the Soviet past, but also some of those whose origins can be traced back to the pre-revolutionary colonial or even pre-colonial traditional past, still have not died completely and have a negative impact on the modern situation.

An important trend in the formation of political regimes in the countries of catching up modernization is the concentration of power in the hands of presidents. In the first years of independence, under the influence of the British or French system, in most countries of the "third world" a kind of division of executive power between the head of state and the head of government took shape, leading to acute personal rivalry. As a rule, it ended with “the creation of a monocephalic republic, in which all power was concentrated in the hands of the head of state. The president, being the highest official and supreme representative of the state, is simultaneously endowed in most developing countries with real power to direct and manage the affairs of the state. He appoints the prime minister, if such an institution is provided for at all, or he himself exercises its functions, appoints members of the government who are responsible to him. At the same time, the head of state himself - the bearer of government power - in most countries does not bear parliamentary responsibility for his activities, or the mechanism of this responsibility is so complicated that it is almost impossible to put it into action. In a number of countries, the fundamental law provides for the possibility of bringing the president to trial (impeachment) for high treason. However, the application of the impeachment procedure (or similar) is even more difficult and does not occur in practice” (14).

The unifying feature of the political regimes of developing countries is the personalization of power, the high role of the subjective factor. In some states, the political leader simultaneously becomes "the head of the sole or ruling political party, the president, and sometimes also the prime minister and direct head of several important ministries, and, finally, the spokesman, and often the founder of the official ideology (Nkrumahism in Ghana, Moboutism in Zaire , the concept of Zambian humanism, the idea of ​​"guided democracy" in Indonesia under Sukarno, the concept of "guided democracy" in Cameroon, etc.)" (15).

However, the main question seems to lie in a somewhat different plane. What is more important is not the type of political regime, but its compatibility with the goals and objectives of modernization. After all, it is no secret that in some cases the regime leads to the conservation of backwardness, while in others it contributes to the dizzying rise of the country. The concepts are generally accepted: “Japanese miracle”, “Korean miracle”, “Chinese”, “Chilean”, etc.

Therefore, in the context of the topic of our study, we are particularly interested in “authoritarianism of development”, or “authoritarianism of modernization”, which retains all the features inherent in this type of political regime: the dominance of the state over society, the executive branch of power over others, the restriction of legal opposition, etc. However, it has a number of special characteristics.

First, at a certain stage, the authoritarianism of development acquires a softened form and shows the ability for self-transformation. This is due to the fact that he “cannot help but be preoccupied with the search for social support outside the traditional ruling groups, with the expansion of his mass base. Hence the need to "listen" to the relevant social groups, establish a feedback mechanism, and so on. In principle, "authoritarianism of modernization" is compatible with some elements of political liberalism - the existence of political parties (albeit top-notch and controlled), legal norms, and even a relatively "free" press. The degree of gradual “softening” of an authoritarian regime, its democratization (sometimes voluntary, sometimes forced) is an important indicator of how well it fits into the modernization process.”

Secondly, “indicators of the functionality of an authoritarian political system at the stage of modernization of a developing society are the implementation of an effective economic strategy aimed at overcoming peripherality, national integration, and ensuring political sovereignty. These tasks are solved by a combination of various methods, including repressive ones.”

Thirdly, development authoritarianism is characterized by a fairly high degree of consensus in society, based on a fairly broad social base. From this follows the paradoxical nature of the existence of this form of authoritarianism. The successes of economic policy, the change in the social structure of society, the emergence of a powerful middle class, which at first acts as support for the regime, create grounds for denying the latter. As soon as the economically strengthened sections of the population, who owe their well-being to the ruling regime, begin to be burdened by excessive state care, the process of its delegitimization begins.

Of great importance is the stability, the strength of state power, which allows it to rise above narrow group interests. Politics is always a choice between certain interests and corresponding strategies. The government is forced to choose between the city and the countryside, exporters and importers, traditional and modern industries, etc., refusing this or that social group. The implementation of a rational economic policy, often far from populism, requires a strong institutional support of power, which acts as a guarantee of the irremovability of the political course.

Therefore, in most countries that are carrying out catch-up modernization, a kind of alliance of technocrats and the army is taking shape. This option makes it possible to carry out the necessary economic reforms in a fairly short period of time. However, the delay in political reforms creates too large a gap between the economy and politics, which is fraught with destabilization of the system. The experience of the countries of Southeast Asia and Latin America proves that the authoritarianism of development itself creates the prerequisites for democratization and the transition to democracy is a natural stage in the evolution of such regimes.

At the same time, the above analysis in no way denies the possibility of catching up modernization by democratic regimes. Here, the problem of stability and continuity of the reformist government also comes to the fore. “In this case, it is usually possible to consistently pursue a rational economic policy over a long period of time in those countries where either there is a dominant party, or there is unity on major fundamental issues within the national political elite, which allows the leaders of the economy not to depend on the swings of the electoral pendulum.”

1.4 Presidential and mixed republics

In modern political science and theory, the state and law of the republic are traditionally divided into three types: (1) parliamentary, where executive power belongs to the government, formed by a parliamentary majority and accountable to parliament, and the powers of the head of state are small; (2) presidential, where the executive power is headed by the president, to whom the government is accountable, and (3) presidential-parliamentary, or semi-presidential, where the government is formed by a parliamentary majority, but is also responsible to the president, who has a number of executive powers. This is a very common, but extremely schematic and rough classification, obscuring the variety of models of government.

There have been many attempts at a more detailed typology of presidential and parliamentary systems. So, D.Verny developed a list of 11 criteria that, in his opinion, allow distinguishing presidential systems from parliamentary ones, as well as from systems that he called "assembly government" . In turn, A. Leiphart argued that only two criteria are fundamentally important for determining the presidential system - popular election of the president and his independence from the trust of parliament - while the rest do not reflect its immanent properties. In 1989, he also formulated the third criterion: the supreme executive power belongs to one person.

One of the most famous definitions of presidential regimes was formulated by M. Shugart and J. Carey. According to him, the presidential system involves:

The popular election of the bearer of the supreme executive power (regardless of whether it is one-man or collegiate);

The terms of office of the holder of the supreme executive power and the legislative body are fixed and do not depend on the trust of the parties to each other (i.e. the president cannot dissolve the parliament, and the parliament cannot depose the president, and there is no mechanism for early elections);

The elected executive branch appoints the government and determines its composition [Shugart, Carey 1997: 200].

In addition to "purely" presidential, Shugart and Carey describe a premier-presidential regime that includes both a prime minister, as in a parliamentary system, and a popularly elected president. Distinctive features of the premier-presidential system:

The president is popularly elected;

The President is endowed with significant powers;

Along with the president, there is a prime minister and a cabinet that are responsible to the legislature.

By "substantial powers" is meant not only legislative prerogatives, say, the ability to put a bill to a referendum or challenge it in court, but also the right to dissolve parliament. The line at the crossing of which the regime ceases to be a prime minister, according to Shugart and Carey, is the granting to the president the right to single-handedly decide on the issue of dismissal of ministers** [Shugart, Carey 1997: 204-205].

Attempts to classify the republican regimes were also made by domestic authors. For example, N.A. Sakharov divides the republics into presidential, semi-presidential and parliamentary. However, the signs of regimes of each type he singled out are not rigid, but probabilistic in nature. Thus, citing the US presidential republic as an example, the author immediately points out that the Latin American and, to a greater extent, Afro-Asian models of presidency are completely different. He sees the difference between a semi-presidential system and a parliamentary one in that in one case the president shares executive power with the head of government, and in the other, executive power belongs to the government, which is responsible only to parliament, but at the same time he refers a number of countries where the second type of system operates according to the constitution. , to semi-presidential (Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Italy, Lithuania, Estonia, etc.) [Sakharov 1994]. As a result, the typologization of regimes proposed by Sakharov is nothing more than his own expert assessment.

Thus, we have to conclude that a typology with an exhaustive list of features that would allow an unmistakable classification of the system of public authorities in each particular country has not yet been created. Of course, as Shugart and Carey rightly noted, no classification is able to fix the whole variety of ways of separating powers and the scope of presidential powers [Shugart, Carey 1997: 206]. But this is not required. It suffices to identify the essential characteristics, to define the boundaries of generalizations, and to establish strict criteria for judging whether a state belongs to a particular type.

The basis for singling out the latter should be their fundamental importance for the political system, i.e. modification of any of the criteria should lead to the formation of a different political system. When choosing criteria, the main attention should be paid to their influence on the party system, since, as M. Duverger, R. Aron and others found, it reflects the most important features of the political regime [see. Duverger 2000: 266-267; Aron 1993: 71-91]. Obviously, such criteria will primarily be "systemic" principles - the specifics of the electoral system and the procedure for the formation of government bodies. As for such an indicator as the distribution of functions between authorities in the actual legislative process, it is not a key one in terms of forming the main characteristics of the political system.

In my opinion, when classifying systems with the institution of the presidency, one should proceed from the seven criteria listed below. At the same time, it should be taken into account that typology according to these criteria makes sense only in a competitive political environment. If there is a monopoly on power in the country, then the constitutional division of powers turns out to be formal and does not play the role that is assigned to it in democratic societies.

The composition of the electoral corps. Popular election puts the president in a completely different position than election by parliament, so this criterion is considered the most important by all researchers of the institution of presidency. As noted by the well-known lawyer D.L. Zlatopolsky, during elections “by the entire electoral corps of the country, the Parliament and the President formally acquire the same status: as a result, naturally, the question of the President’s responsibility to Parliament, as a rule, does not even arise” [Zlatopolsky 1996: 24 ]. Other things being equal, a president elected directly by the people will be much more independent than a president elected by parliament.

Method of election (for presidents elected by the population). By definition, presidential elections are majoritarian*. The majoritarian electoral system and, consequently, the presidential republic stimulate the emergence of heteronomous parties focused on attracting the votes of all segments of the population, which creates favorable conditions for political centrism and the desire for maximum social harmony.

The formula by which the winner is determined has a serious impact on the nature of the party system. It is generally accepted that "a one-round majoritarian system contributes to the establishment of a two-party system, a proportional system, on the contrary, promotes a multi-party system, and a two-round majoritarian system promotes the unification of parties in a coalition" [Gadzhiev 1995: 171]. In a plurality system, success requires a single candidate to be identified in advance for the broadest possible spectrum of forces. In the US, this is achieved through the institution of "primaries", in other countries there are other mechanisms for mutual consultations. Under an absolute majority system, parties, as a rule, come out alone in the first round, and support an agreed candidate in the second round, forming various configurations of bipolar coalitions.

Combination / separation of the posts of head of state and head of government. The importance of this criterion is not in doubt, since the organization of power in the country largely depends on the way the government is formed. The President, who personally heads the government, is directly responsible for the activities of the entire executive branch. In the presence of an independent post of head of government, the president finds himself somewhat aloof from the cabinet and, thus, cannot be directly responsible for its work. Accordingly, the relationship between the president and the parliament, the president and the government, the parliament and the government are treated differently. In other words, discrepancies in this criterion indicate significant differences in the system of power.

Government formation mechanism. It is important not only to have an independent post of head of the cabinet, but also the mechanism for forming the government, primarily the distribution of powers relating to the appointment and dismissal of its members. Obviously, this factor is of decisive importance from the point of view of the hierarchical subordination of the government to the president or parliament. The more important the president's role in appointing and dismissing ministers, the more he controls the government. It is also significant how independent the president is in choosing a candidate for prime minister, whether he can voluntarily dismiss the government. If, other things being equal, in one country the president is endowed with such a right, but not in another, then we are talking about different types of presidential regime, since the president has unequal political influence there and his relationship with the government is on a completely different basis.

Presence/absence of the President's right to dissolve parliament. The significance of this criterion is determined by the fact that vesting the president with such powers largely balances the influence of the parliament on the formation of the government, primarily its right to vote of no confidence. In addition, if the president has the power to dissolve the legislature, he can force the prime minister to compromise with coalition partners by threatening early elections.

Presence/absence of restrictions on re-election. The inclusion of this criterion is due to the fact that granting the president the right to run for a new term enhances his power opportunities and changes his attitude towards the person holding the presidential chair. At the same time, it should be noted that no influence on the characteristics of the political system of the duration of the presidential mandate was found, and none of the researchers has ever used this indicator in the typology of presidential regimes.

The procedure for filling the post of president (presence/absence of the institution of early elections). The procedure for filling the post of president in the event of a vacancy has a serious impact on the party, and more broadly, on the entire political system. In countries where early elections are not provided and if the president-elect cannot fulfill his duties, his powers are transferred to the next official in rank, the parties are able to plan their activities for a long time. Moreover, they do not need to have a permanent asset, which is required mainly during the election period. It is precisely because of this circumstance that the existence of parties - "electoral machines" without a fixed membership - is possible.

Early election regimes are less stable. Since elections can be called at almost any moment, the parties should be on constant alert. Accordingly, their assets must always be mobilized, and in order to achieve this, parties sometimes deliberately provoke political instability and undermine state institutions. In addition, the duration of the early election campaign is often extremely short, making it difficult to build coalitions.

1.5 Institute of impeachment

Impeachment (eng. impeachment - distrust, from lat. impedivi - "hindered, stopped") - the procedure for prosecution, including criminal, persons of municipal or state execution, officials, up to the head of state, with their subsequent removal from office. The accusation in the process of impeachment, as a rule, convicts a person of acts committed illegally, that is, of a conscious offense, regardless of the abuse of office.

The concept arose in England in the 14th century as a weapon in the fight against the arbitrariness of royal favorites: then the House of Commons arrogated to itself the right to bring royal ministers to the court of the House of Lords, whereas before this right belonged only to the king. The procedure for bringing criminal charges before the lords by the communities was called “impeachment”. In British history, impeachment was last used in 1806. From British law, the concept was transferred to the US constitution, where it began to mean the lower house of accusation before the Senate against a federal official, up to judges and the president (in each state, at the state level, similar procedures are established for governor and other state officials). The upper house, as in England, acts here as a court of justice, and the president does not have the right to pardon on the verdicts of the Senate. Thus, impeachment in the exact sense is only the first stage of the procedure for removal from office on a criminal charge, although in our time (even in Anglo-Saxon countries) it has become customary to use this word to refer to the entire process of removal.

In Russia, according to the Constitution adopted in 1993, the procedure is in many respects similar to the American one: the removal of the President of the Russian Federation from office is carried out by the Federation Council with a two-thirds vote on the proposal of the State Duma.

In Russia, the procedure for impeachment (removal from office) was initiated three times, once - in accordance with the current Constitution. In all cases, the object was the first president, Boris Yeltsin.

For the first time the question of impeachment arose in March 1993 at the initiative of the Supreme Council and the Congress of People's Deputies of Russia. Although the 1978 Constitution of the RSFSR in force at that time (with amendments) allowed the Congress of People's Deputies to independently decide "any issue under the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation", as a result of negotiations between the Supreme Council and the president, the issue of powers was submitted to a national referendum, during which At the same time, the question of confidence in the Congress was being decided. As a result of the people's will, both branches of government retained their powers.

The second time the question of impeachment arose in September 1993, after the presidential decree on the termination of the Congress and the Supreme Council. The impeachment decision was taken by the deputies who gathered at the so-called X Congress, the legitimacy of which, however, was not recognized by the executive branch. The conflict was resolved by force of arms during the events of October 3-4.

The third time the issue of impeachment was considered in 1998-1999. President Yeltsin was accused by the State Duma on four counts: the collapse of the USSR, the unleashing of a war in Chechnya, the weakening of Russia's defense capability and security, and the dissolution of the Supreme Soviet in 1993. Optionally, the issue of "genocide of the Russian people" was considered. A special parliamentary commission was created in the State Duma to consider the issue of impeachment, headed by a member of the Communist Party faction Vadim Filimonov (chairman), Viktor Ilyukhin (Communist Party of the Russian Federation) and Elena Mizulina (Yabloko) (deputy chairmen). As a result of the vote, none of the accusations received the support of a qualified majority of deputies (17 votes were not enough to bring an accusation on the issue of the war in Chechnya), and the procedure was terminated.

Legislation on the impeachment of senior officials exists in most countries of the world, but it is not universally resorted to. For example, at the end of the 20th - beginning of the 21st century, the presidents of Brazil Fernando Color, Peru Alberto Fujimori (the Congress did not accept his voluntary resignation and carried out an impeachment procedure with a ban on political activity), Indonesia Abdurrahman Wahid and Lithuania Rolandas Paksas were removed from office. The impeachment of Paksas (2004) was the only accepted impeachment of a head of state in Europe.

president power impeachment

1.6 Main functions and powers of the President of the Russian Federation

The competence of the President of the Russian Federation consists of the functions and powers that he is vested with as head of state.

The functions of the President of the Russian Federation are understood as the main activities of the head of state, arising from his position in the system of state authorities.

The functions of the President of the Russian Federation are specified in his powers. Powers are a set of rights and obligations granted to the President of the Russian Federation, which are necessary for him to perform the assigned functions.

Functions of the President of the Russian Federation:

1) The President of the Russian Federation is the guarantor of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the rights and freedoms of man and citizen;

2) The President of the Russian Federation, in accordance with the procedure established by the Constitution of the Russian Federation, takes measures to protect the sovereignty of the Russian Federation, its independence and state integrity;

3) The President of the Russian Federation ensures the coordinated functioning and interaction of state authorities;

4) The President of the Russian Federation, in accordance with the Constitution of the Russian Federation and federal laws, determines the main directions of the domestic and foreign policy of the state;

5) The President of the Russian Federation represents the Russian Federation within the country and in international relations.

It is advisable to consider the powers of the President of the Russian Federation by combining them into groups depending on the spheres of public life in which the President of the Russian Federation operates.

1. The President of the Russian Federation and the Government of the Russian Federation. The President of the Russian Federation cooperates most closely with the executive branch, and although, according to the Constitution of the Russian Federation, he is not the head of the executive branch, an analysis of his constitutional powers suggests that, in fact, the President of the Russian Federation acts as the head of the executive branch:

1) The President of the Russian Federation appoints, with the consent of the State Duma, the Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation (paragraph “a” of Article 83);

2) The President of the Russian Federation approves proposals submitted to him by the Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation on the structure of federal executive bodies (Part 1, Article 112). The Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of August 17, 1999 "On the structure of federal executive bodies"* identified a number of ministries and departments that are directly subordinate to the President of the Russian Federation on issues assigned to him by the Constitution of the Russian Federation, federal constitutional laws and federal laws;

3) at the suggestion of the Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation, the President of the Russian Federation appoints and dismisses deputies of the Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation, federal ministers (paragraph “e” of Article 83);

4) The President of the Russian Federation has the right to preside at meetings of the Government of the Russian Federation (paragraph “b” of Article 83);

5) The President of the Russian Federation makes a decision on the resignation of the Government of the Russian Federation (clause “c” of Article 83).

2. The teachings of Cicero on the state and law

Mark Tullius Cicero (106 - 43 BC) - a famous orator, statesman and writer from the equestrian class. The most prominent ideologue of the Roman aristocracy during the period of the Republic.

In the Tullian family, no one held the highest government positions, and therefore, when Cicero reached the post of consul, representatives of the nobility called him contemptuously an upstart, a new man (homonovus). Even as a child, he showed brilliant abilities in teaching and was distinguished by such amazing intelligence and memory that the parents of his comrades came to school to look at "this little miracle." In life, he owed everything only to himself, to his oratorical gift.

He made his first speeches in 81 - 80 years. BC. under Sulla on the side of the opposition; his first great success was his participation in 70 BC. in a high-profile trial against the Sullan Verres; Cicero made his first political speech in 66 BC. in support of G. Pompey. The pinnacle of Cicero's success is the consulship in 63 BC. (disclosure of the Catiline conspiracy, leading role in the senate, "leader of the senate").

With the formation of the first triumvirate (60 BC, Caesar, Pompeii, Krase), the influence of Cicero falls, in 58 - 57 years. BC. he even had to go into exile, then (against his own will) support Pompey and Caesar; after their break, Cicero tried during the civil war (49 - 47 BC) to act as a conciliator; With the victory of Caesar, he moved away from politics. Only after the assassination of Caesar (44 BC), overcoming hesitation, he again entered the political struggle as the leader of the Senate and the Republicans. By this time, his 14 speeches belong - "Philippic" against Mark Antony. In 43 BC, when the Senate was defeated in the fight against the second triumvirate (Anthony, Octavian Augustus, Lepidus), the name of Cicero was entered in the proscription lists. Cicero died among the first victims of the repressions of Antony and Octavian Augustus.

Of the writings of Cicero, 58 speeches (political and judicial), 19 treatises on rhetoric and politics, and over 800 letters have been preserved - an important psychological document, a monument of the Latin spoken language, a source of information about the era of civil wars in Rome. His works "On the State" and "On the Laws" are devoted to issues of state and law.

Cicero proceeds from ideas common to supporters of the aristocracy about the natural origin of the state. Civil communities arise not by establishment, but by nature, for people are endowed by the gods with the desire to communicate. The first reason for uniting people in the state was "not so much their weakness as, so to speak, the innate need to live together."

But the state (respublica) Cicero defines not only as a natural organism, but also as an artificial formation, as a matter, the property of the people (respopuli), "national institution". The people is understood as "a combination of many people, connected with each other by agreement in matters of law and common interests." Consequently, law is the basis of the state, and the state itself is not only a moral, but also a legal community.

Thus, Cicero stands at the origins of that legalization of the concept of the state, which subsequently had many adherents, up to modern supporters of the idea of ​​a legal state.

The purpose of the state is to protect the property interests of citizens. The protection of property is one of the reasons for its formation. Violation of the inviolability of private and public property Cicero characterized as desecration and violation of justice and law.

Cicero paid great attention to the analysis of various forms of government, the search for the "best" form.

Depending on the number of rulers, he distinguished three simple forms of government: royal power, the power of optimates (aristocracy) and popular power (democracy). All these forms are not perfect, and if there were a choice among them, it would be preferable to have the royal, and in the last place - democracy.

However, tsarist power is fraught with arbitrariness and easily degenerates into tyranny, the power of the optimates turns into the rule of a clique of the rich and noble, democracy leads to the arbitrariness of the mob, to its tyranny.

These ugly types of dominion are no longer forms of the state, since in such cases it is absent altogether, since there are no common interests, a common cause and a right universally binding on all.

Such a degeneration of statehood can be prevented only under conditions of the best, mixed type of state structure. The political ideal of Cicero is an aristocratic senatorial republic, supported by the "consent of the estates", "unanimity of all estates", combining the principles of the monarchy (the power of the consuls), aristocracy (the rule of the Senate) and democracy (the popular assembly and the power of the tribunes).

The person in charge of the affairs of the state must be wise, just, temperate and eloquent. It must be versed in the doctrines of the state and "possess the fundamentals of law, without knowledge of which no one can be just." This should be "the first person in the republic", "pacifier", guardian and trustee" in times of crisis, combining Greek philosophical theory and Roman political (oratory) practice. Cicero considered himself a model of such a figure.

Speaking of the people in his definition of the state, Cicero had in mind only landowners and large merchants. Moneylenders, small merchants, owners of handicraft workshops, all working people, he ranked among the contemptible people. With such people, worthy citizens cannot have any common interests (treatise "On Duties").

Naturally, this also applied to slaves. Slavery is due to nature itself, which gives "the best people dominion over the weak." Slaves, Cicero believed, should be treated like mercenaries. This approach to the definition of slavery is a significant step forward in comparison with the slave as a "talking weapon".

The legal theory of Cicero was based on an appeal to nature, to its reason and laws. The basis of law is the inherent justice of nature. Nature has intelligence and a certain order. It is this spiritual property of her that is the true source and bearer of natural law.

Natural law, the true law, is a reasonable provision corresponding to nature, extending to all people ... it is impossible to abolish it, and we cannot free ourselves from this law either by a decree of the senate or by a decree of the people.

The basic principle of natural law is justice, "it gives to each his own." Justice, according to Cicero, requires not harming others or violating the property of others.

Natural law (the highest, true law), according to Cicero, arose "earlier than any written law." Hence the requirement that human institutions (written laws, political institutions) correspond to justice and law. The laws adopted in the state must comply with the system established in it, the traditions and customs of the ancestors. To strengthen the divine authority, the law must have a preamble (introduction). At the same time, "everyone should be subject to the law."

If rights were established by the decrees of the peoples, by the decisions of the first men, by the judgments of judges, then there would be the right to commit adultery, the right to make false wills, if these rights could be approved by a vote or decision of the crowd.

Cicero divides written law into private and public. The so-called international law (law of peoples) is interpreted by him as part of the positive law of different peoples and as part of the natural law of international law (ie, as international natural law). He was a supporter of compliance with the obligations imposed by international treaties. Distinguishing between just and unjust wars, he considered unjust and unholy any war that "was not proclaimed and declared."

The legacy of Cicero in the field of state and law had a great influence on all subsequent human culture and legal science.

Bibliography

1. Gadzhiev K.S. Political Science: A Textbook for Higher Educational Institutions. - M.: Logos, 2007. - 488 p.

2. Kozyrev G.I. Political Science: Textbook / G.I. Kozyrev. _ M.: Publishing House "FORUM" - NORMA - M, 2010. -368 p.

3. The Constitution of the Russian Federation, M., Prospekt

4. Kyshev A.V. The institution of the presidency in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe as an indicator of the process of political transformation // Political Studies, 2002, No. 2

5. Kasymbekov M.B. Features of the institution of presidency in the countries of the second and third "echelons of modernization" // Social Humanitarian Knowledge, 2002, no. 3.

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The term "president" comes from the Latin praessidens, which literally means "sitting in front." Apparently, in ancient times, presidents were called presiding at various meetings. From this original meaning of the word "president" subsequently arose such a position as, for example, president of the senate. However, in his current understanding as head of state, the term "president" was not used during the time of the Greek and Roman republics, nor during the early bourgeois republics in England and the Netherlands. So, in England, which became a republic for a short time, the Council of State exercised executive power instead of the overthrown monarch. In the Netherlands, the highest collegiate body also had executive powers.

In line with the European republican practice, the process of forming the executive power in the United States of America also initially took place. At the first stage of American statehood, not only legislative, but also executive power was concentrated in one representative body - the Continental Congress. At that time, there was no single head of state, and the Congress elected a president from among its members, whose functions were limited only to chairing meetings.

Quite soon, most of the politicians of the young American republic came to the conclusion about the ineffectiveness of the activities of the Congress in the execution of laws and the need for separation of the legislative and executive powers. At the same time, the delegates to the Constitutional Convention, who met in Philadelphia in 1787 to adopt the federal US Constitution, made a historic choice between a monarchy and a republic. Most Americans, having just finished with the rule of the British monarchy, were strongly opposed to the creation of the supreme executive power in the person of the monarch, even if with limited powers. Because of this, the search for the formation of the most acceptable form of executive power went to the convention on the basis of republicanism, which provides for the election of all officials.

After much debate among the framers of the American Constitution, the prevailing view was that the supreme executive power should be unified, i.e. concentrate in the hands of one rather than a few officials. Thus, the principle of unity of command was initially established in the construction of the federal executive power of the United States. The head of the federal executive power in the country began to be called, according to the Constitution, the President of the United States of America. This name of the head of state was due not only to the fact that the president was associated with the republican form of government, but also to the fact that in a number of American states at that time the heads of the executive branch were called presidents, not governors.

As a result, the United States became the first country in the world where the office of president arose, uniting the head of state and the head of government in one person. In addition, it was in the United States that the institution of the presidency was born as one of the most important institutions of the political system. Unlike other states of that time, where executive power everywhere had a monarchical, hereditary character, in the United States the head of state began to be elected during general elections.

The United States was the first to follow the example of the United States in establishing a presidential system of government for Latin American countries. Already in the first half of the 19th century, under the influence of a powerful northern neighbor, the post of president was established in many South American countries. In Europe, Great Britain became the standard of government, and in a number of European countries a parliamentary, or cabinet, system of government was established, in which the monarch remained the head of state, but executive power was exercised by the prime minister and his cabinet, and the government became responsible to parliament. The first European countries, where the post of president as head of state was introduced, were in 1848 two republics - France and Switzerland. In addition to them, other states of Europe (not to mention Asia and Africa) until the end of the nineteenth century. remained monarchies.

In the 20th century, such grandiose upheavals as revolutions, world wars, the collapse of colonial empires led to the formation of many new independent states. Not all of them became presidential republics, but the vast majority of them established the post of president of the country. Thus, in Europe, after the end of the First World War, the presidents became the highest officials in Austria, the Weimar Republic, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, and Turkey. In the 1930s and 1940s, the institution of the presidency began to spread in Asia; it was introduced by the Philippines, Syria, Lebanon. After the Second World War, the number of Western European states headed by presidents included Italy, Greece, Portugal, Iceland and Malta. In Asia, the post of president was established in South Korea, South Vietnam, Taiwan, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan.

In the Russian Federation, the institution of the presidency was established based on the results of a popular vote (referendum) held on March 17, 1991. The status of the President of the RSFSR was determined by a special Law "On the President of the RSFSR", the main provisions of which were then included in the text of the Constitution of the RSFSR. Currently, the procedure for the election, competence and grounds for termination of the powers of the President of the Russian Federation are regulated by Ch. 4 of the 1993 Constitution. The Constitution does not provide for the adoption of a separate law on the President, however, some issues of his status, the activities of the apparatus of the head of state are regulated by special regulations (legislation on elections, on state authorities).

At the same time, the acts of President R.F. himself play the main role in regulating and organizing the activities of the institute of presidency. This circumstance is hardly justified, since the law should be the main regulator in this area.

The establishment of the post of President in Russia was determined by a number of objective and subjective factors, the tasks of strengthening the executive power, increasing its mobility and efficiency in making managerial decisions, improving the mechanism for implementing laws, strengthening state discipline, law and order. The introduction of this post made it possible to put an end to the artificial combination within the status of the former chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR of the powers of the head of state with the rights of the speaker of parliament, which clearly contradicted the principle of separation of powers. The establishment of this position in the USSR in 1990 also had a well-known influence on the emergence of the institution of presidency in Russia. In turn, the establishment of the post of President of Russia led to the emergence of this institution of power in most of the republics within the Russian Federation.

The legal status of the President of Russia is based on taking into account world experience in the organization of presidential power. As in many other countries with the institution of the presidency, Russia uses the right of suspensive veto, which gives the head of state the opportunity not to sign the law, but to submit it to parliament for reconsideration.

From foreign experience, the impeachment procedure contained in the Constitution of the Russian Federation - the removal of the President from office, the institution of addressing a message to parliament, etc., are taken. At the same time, the structure of presidential power reflects the Russian conditions of political life and does not give grounds to speak of a mechanical copying of the experience of any country.

The most important features of the organization of the institute of presidency in the Russian Federation are enshrined in its Constitution.

1. The Russian design of presidential power combines features of various classical models of the institution of presidency.

In a number of key positions, the Russian model certainly gravitates toward a purely presidential republic. Its main feature is control over the formation and activities of the government, its leadership. The US Constitution, for example, does not provide for the government as a separate executive branch. Its functions are performed by the presidential administration.

In the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the President is characterized as the head of state (Part 1, Article 80), he determines the structure of the Government, appoints and dismisses its Members, and decides on his resignation. The appointment of the Chairman of the Government is carried out with the consent of the State Duma, but even here the decisive word remains with the President.

Nevertheless, it would not be entirely justified to speak about the full compliance of the Russian model of organizing power with a pure presidential republic. In Russia (unlike the United States and other presidential republics), the head of state is not simultaneously the head of government, and the right to chair its meetings is by no means identical with the function of direct leadership.

2. A distinctive feature of the relationship between the Parliament and the President in Russia is the presence of elements of the Government's political responsibility not only to the President, but also to the Parliament. The State Duma may express no confidence in the Government, the decision on which is made by a majority vote of the total number of its deputies.

The organization of presidential power in Russia is based on the use of elements and a semi-presidential republic. The presidential power in Russia has a lot in common with the model of its organization in France. In particular, in both countries, presidents have similar rights (the right to send the adopted law for a new discussion, the right to dissolve the legislative chamber of the parliament, the right to send the bill to a referendum, bypassing the parliament, etc.).

However, here, too, the Russian model has a number of fundamental features. Thus, the President of the Russian Federation determines the main directions of the domestic and foreign policy of the state, while in France this is the prerogative of the parliament. According to Art. 50 of the French Constitution, if the National Assembly adopts a resolution of reprimand, or if it does not approve the program or declaration of the general policy of the Government, then the Prime Minister shall serve the President with the resignation of the Government. In this case, the President is obliged to dismiss the Government, although at the same time he may decide to dissolve the National Assembly. According to the Russian scheme, the President of the Russian Federation has the right not to dismiss the Government, but under certain conditions he can dissolve the State Duma.

Unlike the Constitution of France, the Constitution of the Russian Federation does not provide for the right to sign (countersignature) acts of the President by the Chairman of the Government, which acts as a means of coordinating the head of state's decisions with the Government. In the practice of the President of the Russian Federation, in some cases, the endorsement of his decrees by a number of officials, including the Prime Minister, is used. However, it does not have a mandatory value for giving legal force to the act of the head of state.

Consequently, the institution of the presidency in Russia combines features of both a presidential and a semi-presidential republic.

3. According to Art. 80 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the President is the guarantor of the Constitution, the rights and freedoms of man and citizen. First of all, Art. 80 refers to the activities of the President himself, which must strictly comply with the Constitution and be aimed at ensuring the rights and freedoms of man and citizen. In fulfilling this function, the President has the right to demand from all federal bodies and authorities of the subjects of the Federation the steadfast observance of the Constitution, the rights and freedoms of man and citizen.

If the President considers the acts of the Federation Council, the State Duma, the representative bodies of the subjects of the Federation to be unconstitutional, he cannot cancel or suspend them.

He has the right to apply to the Constitutional Court with a petition for the recognition of such acts as unconstitutional and the termination of their validity. Acts of executive authorities directly subordinated to the President, he can, on the grounds of their inconsistency with the Constitution and violations of human and civil rights and freedoms, cancel (acts of the Government of the Russian Federation, federal ministries, departments) or suspend their action until the issue is resolved by the appropriate court (acts of executive authorities of subjects federation). All this indicates that the President has the authority to exercise control over the observance of the Constitution.

Acting as the guarantor of the Constitution, the rights and freedoms of man and citizen, the President has the right to evaluate the content of the activities of the bodies accountable to him (the Government, the Security Council), as well as the heads of those state structures for which he makes proposals for appointments.

The President of Russia also has a number of other legal opportunities to influence the constitutional legality in the country. In a message to the Federal Assembly, he can state his vision of this problem and orient the parliament towards the implementation of priority bills in a particular area of ​​public life.

By exercising the right of legislative initiative, the head of state may introduce draft laws on amendments and additions to the Constitution, federal constitutional and federal laws. By controlling the Government, the President has a significant influence on the formation of the draft state budget, the spending of public funds, which directly affects the level of social support for the population, the implementation of socio-economic rights of citizens. In the arsenal of the President there are also such tools for protecting the rights of citizens as resolving issues of citizenship and political asylum, pardoning, etc.

The Constitution of the Russian Federation links the role of the President as the guarantor of the Constitution precisely with his activities to ensure the fundamental rights and freedoms of man and citizen. Therefore, the main thing in the activity of the President is the creation of conditions for the exercise of constitutional human rights and freedoms. Of course, there is something else: the real state of affairs with the rights and freedoms of Russian citizens is the main criterion for evaluating the performance of the President.

3. The President of the Russian Federation, in accordance with the procedure established by the Constitution, ensures protection of its sovereignty, independence and state integrity(part 2 of article 80 of the Constitution).

The problem of protecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Russia by the President has both external (protection against aggression) and internal (protection against separatism) aspects.

4. The President of the Russian Federation in accordance with Art. 80 of the Constitution provides coordinated functioning and interaction of public authorities.

Separation and independence of authorities do not preclude the need for coordination of their efforts, close interaction in solving issues of economic and social development. In the Russian Federation, coordination functions are assigned to the President as the head of state. To do this, he is endowed with powers (Articles 83, 84 of the Constitution), giving him the opportunity to influence all branches of government. Such coordination is evident, for example, in solving the most important personnel issues for the country.

The President interacts with the State Duma (in connection with the appointment of the Head of Government, the Chairman of the Central Bank), and with the Federation Council (in the formation of the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Arbitration Court, the Supreme Court, the appointment of the Prosecutor General), and with the Chairman of the Government (in the appointment and dismissal of members governments). Of course, the corresponding powers of the President are also his duties.

The need for such coordination also arises in relation to legislative activity, where it is extremely important to use the potential of all authorities, to combine the achievements and professionalism of the executive branch with the ability of deputies to express a decisive opinion on the fate of bills. That's why

The President is not only endowed with the right of legislative initiative; he must submit most of the bills to the State Duma. In addition, through the right to return the bill to the State Duma with his comments (the right of suspensive veto), he has the opportunity to defend his point of view on its content.

The fact that the President of the Russian Federation has broad powers, levers of influence on all branches of power gives reason to talk about his withdrawal from the general system of separation of powers, elevation above all its branches. Making it possible to ensure the unity of the divided branches of state power, such an organization of the institution of the presidency to a certain extent weakens the system of "checks and balances", control over the activities of the head of state by other federal bodies.

For the theoretical justification of this situation, an attempt was made to justify the existence of a special branch of power - the "presidential". This kind of idea not only formally contradicts the principle of separation of powers, but, in fact, destroys it. This principle excludes the possibility of direct leadership of one branch of government by another. The President has the functions of leading the Government. It turns out that the "presidential" branch of government leads the executive.

5. In accordance with the Constitution of the Russian Federation, federal laws, the President determines the main directions of the domestic and foreign policy of the state(part 3 of article 80). This wording does not mean that the President single-handedly decides the issue of Russia's domestic and foreign policy. Its development is the result of a complex interaction of various political forces and branches of state power.

The main parameters and directions of Russia's state policy are defined in its Constitution, which is not only a legal, but also a starting political document expressing a compromise between various political forces. Therefore, the activity of the President, aimed at determining the main directions of state policy, is limited by the Constitution.

An important mechanism for developing state policy is the Federal Assembly, in which not only various political parties and movements (State Duma), but also all subjects of the Federation (Federation Council) are represented. The main instrument for determining the watering of the Russian state by the parliament is legislative activity. Major issues of economic and social policy, problems of interethnic relations, the fight against crime, etc. are resolved through the law. The activities of the President must comply with the laws, which also limits his influence on state policy.

At the same time, the President has great powers in the field of determining the main directions of the domestic and foreign policy of the Russian Federation. They concern personnel policy, management of foreign policy activities, participation in the formation of legal policy, management of current socio-economic policy.

The noted features of the constitutional status of the President of the Russian Federation largely characterize the specifics of the organization and functioning of the institute of presidency in Russia. As for the norm, Part 4, Art. 80 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, according to which the President of the Russian Federation as the head of state represents the Russian Federation within the country and in international relations, then it reflects generally accepted world practice.

Place and role of the President of the Russian Federation in the system of federal government bodies. Distinctive features of the constitutional and legal status of the head of state in Russia from foreign countries.

The procedure for electing and taking office of the President of the Russian Federation.

The Constitution of the Russian Federation (Articles 81, 82) determines the term of office of the President, the conditions and procedure for his election and assumption of office. The constitutional norms on the election of the President of the Russian Federation are developed in the Federal Law "On the Election of the President of the Russian Federation" dated January 10, 2003.

The 1993 Constitution establishes that the President of the Russian Federation is elected for a term of five years. The limitation of the term of office of the President, as well as the norm of Part 3 of Art. 81 of the Constitution that the same person cannot hold the office of President of the Russian Federation for more than two consecutive terms are important legal barriers that exclude the transformation of the institution of presidential power into a life position.

The Constitution of the Russian Federation established a number of requirements (qualifications) for a candidate for the presidency. First, only a citizen of Russia can be elected President; secondly, he must permanently reside in the country for at least 10 years; thirdly, the President cannot be younger than 35 years old.

The latter requirement is due to the special importance of the functions of this official, the implementation of which requires extensive life experience and managerial skills. The Constitution of the Russian Federation does not provide for an upper age limit for a presidential candidate (previously it was 65 years).

The question of the procedure for taking office is adjacent to the conditions and procedure for electing the President.

There is a certain transitional period between summing up the results of the election of the new President and taking office. It is necessary for the organizational completion of the activities of the former President and his Government and preparation for the performance of state functions by the newly elected President. An obligatory attribute of the entry of the President into office is the taking of an oath by him.

The latter is brought in a solemn atmosphere in the presence of members of the Federation Council, deputies of the State Duma, judges of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation. Usually, other representatives of federal government bodies, cultural figures, scientists, and politicians are also present at the oath ceremony.

The President begins to exercise his powers from the moment of taking the oath. From this moment, as a general rule, the powers of the former President cease.

However, the powers of the President may be terminated ahead of schedule in the event of his: resignation; persistent inability for health reasons to exercise their powers or removal from office; of death. The powers of the President are also terminated ahead of schedule when he loses Russian citizenship.

The resignation of the President, according to generally accepted practice, is understood as a voluntary resignation from his post. The Constitution of the Russian Federation does not specify the resignation formula, does not establish the motives for making such a decision, does not indicate the body to which the resignation should be addressed, does not answer the question of whether any decision should be made, does not regulate other aspects of the resignation procedure. The solution of these issues is extremely important for the practical application of the institution of resignation.

That is why their detailed legal regulation at the level of federal law is necessary. The resignation of President B. Yeltsin on December 31, 1999 confirmed the presence of significant gaps in the legislation. The procedure for transferring the attributes of presidential power was determined by the outgoing President himself and took place without the participation of representatives of other branches of power.

In the event of termination of presidential functions due to persistent inability of the President for health reasons to exercise his powers The federal law does not define who and how establishes the existence of a permanent disability, what are its criteria, how to provide such a decision, who will publish it. In the norms of the federal law it is necessary to provide answers to all these questions. In any case, legal guarantees must be created to prevent abuse in the process of implementing this constitutional norm.

The procedure for the removal of the President from office is prescribed in the Constitution in detail. The dismissal of the President from office is a type of constitutional responsibility of the head of state for committing state, treason or other serious crime. In addition to the general criminal responsibility that every citizen of Russia bears for such actions, the President is liable in the form of removal from office.

Contained in Art. 93 of the Constitution, the concepts of "high treason" and "serious crime" are specified in Art. 275 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. High treason refers to espionage, disclosure of state secrets or other assistance to a foreign state, foreign organization or their representatives in carrying out hostile activities to the detriment of the external security of the Russian Federation.

Serious crimes are intentional and reckless acts, for which the maximum punishment provided for by the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation does not exceed ten years in prison.

Obviously, the constitutional concept of “serious crime” also includes the provisions of Art. 15 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, especially grave crimes, for the commission of which a punishment of more than ten years in prison or a more severe punishment (for example, life imprisonment) is provided.

The procedure for dismissal from office is implemented on the basis of close interaction between the chambers of the Federal Assembly. The accusation of the President of committing high treason or other grave crime is put forward by the State Duma. The initiator of initiating the issue of dismissal of the President, in accordance with Part 2 of Art. 93 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, maybe a group of deputies of the Duma. Taking into account the fact that the total number of members of the Duma is 450 people, the composition of the initiative group should be at least 150 deputies.

The materials submitted by the initiative group are subject to consideration at the session of the Chamber. In the event that the issue of continuing the removal procedure is decided, the Duma, by a majority of votes, forms a special commission to prepare an opinion on this issue.

The main task of the commission is a detailed study and discussion of the materials collected by the initiative group, attraction of new materials and documents confirming or refuting the accusations made of the President committing a serious crime. The commission has the right to demand documents from state bodies, request explanations, and receive other necessary information.

The special opinion prepared by the commission is submitted to the Duma and discussed at its meeting. Within the meaning of Art. 93 of the Constitution, in order to continue the procedure for the removal of the President, the conclusion of the commission must confirm his guilt and testify to the existence of grounds for removal. Otherwise, the presentation of the conclusion loses its meaning. Based on the results of the discussion of the conclusion, the Duma may decide to charge the President with high treason or committing another serious crime. This decision is made by two-thirds of the votes of the total number of deputies.

The accusation put forward by the Duma is sent to the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation. The Supreme Court makes a conclusion on the presence or absence of signs of a relevant serious crime in the actions of the President. The conclusion of the Supreme Court does not have the legal force of a sentence; it can only be used as part of the procedure for removing the President from office. The Constitutional Court gives an opinion on the observance of the appropriate procedure for bringing charges, i.e. the object of analysis is the activities of the State Duma, the initiative group and the commission for preparing an opinion on the dismissal of the President from office.

The decision to remove the President from office is made by the Federation Council by a two-thirds majority of the total number of its members. The decision of the Federation Council is formalized by a special resolution.

The decision of the Federation Council to remove the President from office is made no later than three months after the State Duma charges against the head of state. If within this period the decision of the Federation Council is not adopted, the accusation against the President is considered rejected (Part 3, Article 93 of the Constitution). In order to objectively resolve the issue of the fate of presidential powers, the Constitution establishes that the State Duma cannot be dissolved from the moment it brings charges against the President until a decision is made by the Federation Council (part 4 of article 109 of the Constitution).

From the moment of early termination of the powers of the President on the above grounds until the election of the next head of state, the relevant state functions are temporarily performed by the Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation (Part 3, Article 92 of the Constitution). The Acting President does not have the right to dissolve the State Duma, call a referendum, or make proposals for amendments and revision of the provisions of the Constitution.


Similar information.


The president("sitting in front", "at the head") - the head of state in countries with a republican form of government. In parliamentary republics, the president is elected for a term established by the constitution, either by the parliament or by a special collegium, the basis of which is the parliament.

In presidential republics, the president is elected by extra-parliamentary means: through direct (Italy, Germany) or indirect (USA, Argentina) elections.

In presidential republics, the president has extensive de facto powers, combining the functions of head of state and head of government.

The constitutions of parliamentary republics formally give the president broad powers, but in fact they are exercised by the prime minister.

The institute of presidency is one of the fundamental elements of the political and state systems of many countries of the world, including our country.

The president is endowed with broad and varied powers, he acts only within the framework of the federal executive power and, by virtue of the constitutional principle of the separation of powers, cannot single-handedly manage the entire state apparatus.

In Russia, where the Constitution was adopted with the active participation of the President - the leader, his significant personal power, his independence, with minor restrictions on his activities by the powers of parliament, were secured.

Article 80 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation defines the status of the President as the head of state, it should be noted here that, being called the head of state, the President can be a nominal figure, but in Russia another model was chosen - “presidency with tangible powers” ​​or the so-called “super-presidency”, which manifests itself in the following factors:

The powers of the President are derived from the people, the President is directly elected by the people, while in the United States presidential elections are held by the Electoral College, and in Germany the Federal Assembly is convened to elect the President;

Only the President is vested with the task of ensuring the coordinated functioning and interaction of all other state authorities - both federal and constituent entities of the Russian Federation (Article 80, Article 85 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation). No other bodies have such opportunities in relation to the President;

The President is generally independent of other organs of state power. Parliamentary and judicial checks and balances against presidential power, and even more control, are exercised on a minimal scale. In essence, we can talk about the absence of the constitutional responsibility of the President, for example, the institution of removal of the President from office provided for by the Constitution is difficult to implement in practice;

The president has great opportunities in relation to the parliament (messages to the Federal Assembly, the introduction of draft laws, the dissolution of the lower house of parliament - the State Duma, etc.). The government can be called the government of the President.

Thus, the President is singled out beyond the concept of separation of powers, he is above them, playing the role of a kind of arbiter, personifying the very state power.

The introduction of "super-presidency" in our country was due to the fact that the post of President was established during a period of high instability in society, internal political contradictions. The status of the President enshrined in the Constitution is of a strongly pronounced personal nature, which, when the head of state changes, can lead to an authoritarian regime, therefore, reforming the institution of the President is required, and first of all, this should be associated with the establishment of stricter control over the activities of the President and a detailed solution of the issue of his constitutional responsibility .

In one can say that under any model of the Presidency, the head of state has a special responsibility for maintaining the rule of law, harmony and stability in society. Remaining within the framework of constitutional and legal powers, the President can actively use the full potential of his post and effectively solve many problems of social development.

It seems that the place of the President of the Russian Federation in the unified system of executive power in the country and the state mechanism as a whole does not correspond to the approaches that have developed in the world:

Firstly, according to the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the head of state has enormous powers, some scholars believe that this allows Russia to be considered a “super-presidential” republic.

Secondly, the power of the President of Russia is not actually limited by the Federal Assembly due to the extremely complex and intricate procedure for removing him from office (Article 93 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation), which speaks of the presidential nature of the Russian republic.

Thirdly, since 2008, the significantly increased actual role of the Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation in government and the emerging dualism in the public administration system allow us to speak of a premier-presidential type of separation of powers in our country.

Fourthly, the Russian Constitution does not provide for the possibility of dissolving the upper house of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation (Federation Council), which allows us to speak about the presence of elements of a presidential-parliamentary type of state in Russia.

FEDERAL AGENCY FOR EDUCATION

STATE EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION OF HIGHER PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION

RUSSIAN STATE UNIVERSITY FOR THE HUMANITIES

BRANCH IN NARO-FOMINSK

Faculty of Documentation

Specialty - Documentation

and documentation support

management

Tymoshenko Alexander Viktorovich

INSTITUTE OF PRESIDENCE IN THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

Course work

in the discipline "Modern organization of state institutions of Russia"

student of the 1st year of the preschool educational institution group 1-5

Scientific adviser-

Associate Professor, Ph.D. Shapovalova L.D.

Naro-Fominsk 2007

Introduction

Chapter 1. Prerequisites for the introduction of the institute of presidency in Russia

Chapter 2. The place of the President in the system of public authorities.

Chapter 3. Development of legislation on the election of the President of the Russian Federation in 1991-2000

Chapter 4. Powers of the President of the Russian Federation

§one. Powers of the President of the Russian Federation related to legislative authorities

§ 2. Powers of the President of the Russian Federation related to the executive authorities

§ 3. Powers of the President of the Russian Federation related to the judiciary

§ 4. Powers of the President of the Russian Federation in the field of national defense and state security

§ 5. Powers of the President of the Russian Federation in the field of foreign policy

§ 6. Powers of the President of the Russian Federation in relation to the subjects of the federation

§ 7. Other powers of the President of the Russian Federation

Chapter 5. The main structures of the institute of presidency in Russia

§ 1. Administration of the President of the Russian Federation

§ 2. Security Council of the Russian Federation

§ 3. Plenipotentiaries of the President of the Russian Federation

§ 4. State Council of the Russian Federation

Conclusion

List of used sources and literature

List of accepted abbreviations

Annex 1. The structure of the institute of presidency in the Russian Federation

Annex 2. Structure of interdepartmental commissions of the Security Council of the Russian Federation


INTRODUCTION

The democratic transformations carried out in the Russian Federation in the early 1990s led to the need to search for a new model for the organization of state power. The basis of this model was the principle of separation of powers generally recognized in the modern world, as well as the introduction of the institution of presidential power. For Russia, this institution was new. Since May 1991, when it was introduced in the Russian Federation, certain experience has been accumulated, which requires generalization. In the Russian Federation, the formation of not only the institution of presidential power, but also parliamentarism, an independent judiciary, and executive authorities took place.

The purpose of this work is to identify the features of the institution of presidential power in the Russian Federation.

The tasks of the work are as follows:

· explore the formation of the institution of presidential power in the Russian Federation and its interaction with other authorities;

· to show changes in the legislation on the election of the President of the Russian Federation;

· analyze the powers of the President of the Russian Federation in various areas of his activity;

· to analyze the activities of the structures of the institute of presidency in the Russian Federation.

To write this work, literature was used, in which the regularities of the formation of the institution of presidential power in Russia, its place in government bodies, the problems of the formation and effective functioning of this institution, such as the monograph by G.V. Degtev "The formation and development of the institution of the presidency in Russia", which examines and analyzes aspects of the institution of the presidency in the Russian Federation, its place in the system of public authorities, the problems of the functioning and formation of this institution in the Russian Federation, as well as the prospects for the development of the presidency in Russia, and the textbook T .G. Arkhipova and E.P. Malysheva on the "Modern organization of state institutions in Russia", in the III section of which he considers the formation and development of the institution of presidency in the Russian Federation. Also, the study of the above issues was used such sources as the Constitution of the Russian Federation, Federal laws of the Russian Federation "On the basics of the public service of the Russian Federation", "On the election of the President of the Russian Federation", Decrees of the President of the Russian Federation "On the Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the region of the Russian Federation", "On the apparatus Security Council of the Russian Federation”, “On additional measures to improve the structure of the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation”, “On the Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the Federal District”, “On the State Council of the Russian Federation”, “On the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation”.

This work contains 5 chapters:

· Chapter 1 is devoted to the prerequisites for the introduction of the institute of presidency in Russia, as well as its formation at the initial stage;

· Chapter 2 discusses the competence of the President in interaction with other public authorities;

· Chapter 3 analyzes the development of legislation on the election of the President of the Russian Federation;

· Chapter 4 characterizes the presidential powers in various areas of his activity;

· Chapter 5 reveals the mechanism of functioning and the structure of presidential power in the Russian Federation.

CHAPTER 1

In March 1990, at the 3rd Congress of People's Deputies, the post of President of the USSR was established. It became clear that Russia also needed the President as the highest official who would take care of strengthening his independence, representing and protecting his interests.

The choice of the optimal model of the institute of presidency in Russia has become one of the key problems in the preparation of the draft of the new Constitution of Russia. The question arose in the constitutional commission: whether the President should be the head of the executive branch, or the executive branch should be headed by the government. The constitutional commission supported the version of the presidential republic, embodied with minor adjustments in the 1991 Law "On the President of the RSFSR".

When developing the presidential model, the question was whether the President should be responsible to the people for the sovereignty of the state, for the reliability and integrity of the state system, for the reasonable cooperation of state bodies, or he should be a business executive - a manager. It was decided that "the President should not be an all-Russian" house manager ". He must manage power, on the basis of a strict division of power functions. The role of the "house manager" was to be assumed by the Government - the Council of Ministers, elected by the parliament and responsible to it. Critics of the establishment of the post of President in the system of state bodies of the RSFSR believed that this created real conditions for the concentration of power in the hands of one person, and that the establishment of the post of President of Russia would not contribute to the strengthening of the USSR, but to its destruction. Supporters of the institution of the presidency argued the inability of the deputy corps to carry out radical changes in the political and economic life of the state, they opposed the legislative power to the mobile executive power.

The concept of the institute of presidency, where the president is the head of the executive branch and the highest official, seemed to many deputies more democratic than a similar institution of power at the level of the USSR.

Article 5 of the Law "On the Presidency of the RSFSR" dated April 24, 1991, consolidated the Presidential powers, which became the foundation of the institution of the Presidency in Russia, combining two main components of the status of the President: the de facto head of state and the constitutional head of the executive branch.

But even with such serious changes in the supreme bodies of Russia, the main role was still played by the Congress and the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR, because. all the powers of the President were determined by the parliament itself; the budget, all programs of the President, his administration, all executive power was financed by the parliament; Parliament reserved the right to overrule any decree of the President; Parliament reserved the right to dismiss the President of the Russian Federation. Apparently, therefore, out of 898 people's deputies who took part in the vote, 690 voted in favor of approving the Law "On the President of the RSFSR"

After the referendum, the laws of the RSFSR of April 24, 1991 "On the President of the RSFSR", "On the election of the President of the RSFSR" and of June 27, 1991 "On taking office of the President of the RSFSR" were adopted. Corresponding changes and additions were made to the Constitution of the RSFSR of 1978, in which a special chapter appeared. On the basis of these legislative acts, the first President of Russia was elected by universal, direct, equal elections by secret ballot on June 12, 1991. They became B.N. Yeltsin, who previously held the position of Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR.

The introduction of the post of President of Russia was the result of progressive democratic processes in Russian society and in its political system. It reflected the process of transformation of political power from the system of party bodies and organizations into the system of state bodies and organizations, including the institution of the president and the Soviets.

There were other reasons too:

Firstly, the desire to fill, with the introduction of the post of President of the RSFSR, a kind of “vacuum” that arose in the process of economic and political reforms, when “the old system in which the party was the supreme governing body has outlived its usefulness and is being dismantled. The ongoing processes turned out to be unsupported to the proper degree by the creation of strong mutually balancing and mutually controlling structures in the state system, the role of which was previously performed by the party.

Second, the need to change federal ties. The President of the RSFSR was supposed to act as a coordinator in the relations between the sovereign republics.

Thirdly, the need to have an integrating force not only in the political system of society and the system of separation of powers, but also in society itself.

Fourth, the need to strengthen executive power and improve management efficiency.

Among other things, the establishment of the post of President of the RSFSR was connected to a certain extent with the need to make quick decisions on current issues requiring prompt intervention due to the efficiency of the presidential power.

The President of the RSFSR, in accordance with the legislation of 1991, was endowed with broad powers. He had legislative powers, traditional for the heads of all states; signed and promulgated the laws adopted by the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR, and could return the law for re-consideration to the Supreme Council (powers did not extend to acts of the highest legislative body - the Congress of People's Deputies of the RSFSR), had the right of legislative initiative.

The President was endowed with broad powers in the sphere of executive power: he appointed and dismissed all members of the Council of Ministers (the consent of the Supreme Council was required only for the appointment of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers and for the President to accept the resignation of the Government as a whole); took measures to ensure state and public security, etc.

However, the institution of the presidency in Russia until December 12, 1993 did not fully deny the sovereignty of the Soviets, since it secured the accountability of the President to the Congress of People's Deputies.

Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 1400 of September 21, 1993 "On the dissolution of the Supreme Council, the Congress of People's Deputies of Russia and the holding of elections to the Federal Assembly and the Election of the President of the Russian Federation" broke the current state system and actually introduced a presidential republic. “A line was drawn under the Soviet form of state organization in Russia. Following the Supreme Council, the councils of the lower levels were liquidated.

On December 12, 1993, elections were held for new legislative bodies and a referendum on a new Constitution. According to the Constitution of 1993, the President occupies a special position in the system of federal state bodies formed after 1993, which will be discussed below.

Thus, from all of the above, we can conclude that in the early 90s, the introduction of the institute of presidency in Russia was vital, in connection with the political and economic situation that had developed. It reflected the process of transformation of political power from the system of party bodies and organizations into the system of state bodies and organizations, including the institution of the presidency and the Soviets.


CHAPTER 2. THE PLACE OF THE PRESIDENT IN THE SYSTEM OF STATE AUTHORITIES

According to the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the President of the Russian Federation plays the leading role in the state system. The status of the head of state predetermines the scope of his powers to ensure the unity and stability of the system of state power, its effective functioning in the conditions of separation of power into legislative, executive and judicial. The President must ensure that all organs of state power carry out their constitutional duties within the limits of their competence.

The position of the President in the system of public authorities is associated with the constitutional prerogatives of the head of state in relation primarily to the executive branch.

Endowed with broad powers and constantly interacting, the President and the government are two independent bearers of state power, to a large extent come into contact in the performance of the functions assigned to them. The relationship between the President of the Russian Federation and the Government is regulated not only by the Constitution, but also by federal laws.

The President ensures the coordinated functioning and interaction of the Government and other authorities, primarily with the chambers of the Federal Assembly.

The President can influence the activities of the Government: approves the structures of federal executive bodies; appoints Deputy Prime Ministers and Ministers; the right to chair meetings of the Government; control over the legality of its acts; direct subordination of law enforcement agencies to him. The President has the right to dismiss the Government, or accept the resignation of the Prime Minister, which entails the resignation of the Government as a whole.

In this regard, government executive bodies are more closely connected with the President than other branches of government.

In the judicial sphere, the President of the Russian Federation submits to the Council of Federations candidates for appointment to the positions of judges of the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court and the Supreme Arbitration Court. In turn, when deciding on the removal of the President from office, the Supreme Court gives a conclusion that there are signs of a crime in the actions of the President; The Constitutional Court issues an opinion on compliance with the established procedure for bringing charges.

The unifying function of the President of the Russian Federation is manifested in the fact that, according to the Constitution, he ensures the coordinated functioning and interaction of state authorities. The President has been granted the right to use conciliation procedures to resolve disagreements between the state authorities of the Russian Federation and the state authorities of the subjects of the Federation, as well as between the state authorities of these subjects.

The regulation of relations between the President and the Federal Assembly is based on ensuring the autonomy and independence of these power institutions, but this does not mean that they are completely separated. On the one hand, mandatory links have been established between them (the President's address to the Federal Assembly, the President's submission of draft laws, candidates for the respective positions). On the other hand, there is a system of balances in the form of the possibility of dismissal of the President from office and the dissolution of the President of the State Smoke of the Federal Assembly. The President has the right to issue decrees and orders. The President may reject a federal law passed by the State Duma, but in due course the State Duma and the Council of Federations may override this veto.

A number of advisory bodies operate under the President: the Security Council, established by Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of June 3, 1992, and the State Council, formed on September 1, 2000, where he presides. The President also forms his own administration and exercises general leadership over it. At the same time, the administration itself is not a body of power. The structure of presidential power includes authorized representatives of the President in the federal districts.

In exercising his constitutional powers, the President, through his authorized representatives in the State Duma, the Council of Federations and the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, interacts with the legislative and judicial branches of power.

The place of the President in the system of state authorities was not immediately determined. With the introduction of the institution of the president in the RSFSR and the election of the first President of the RSFSR, the foundation of the constitutional crisis was laid. The crisis was predetermined by the half-heartedness of the constitutional reform of 1990-1991, when elements of the mechanism of separation of powers were introduced into the Constitution of the RSFSR of 1978 and the position of the President of the RSFSR was introduced, while maintaining the uncertain status of the Congress of People's Deputies as the highest body of state power, having the right to take into consideration and decide any question related to the jurisdiction of the RSFSR. This led to contradictions in constitutional norms that did not delineate the powers of the executive, legislative and judicial branches.

This provoked a confrontation and opposition between the formal powers of the executive branch headed by the President of the RSFSR and the legislative bodies represented by the Congress of People's Deputies and the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR.

The replacement of the Soviets of People's Deputies by another system of representative institutions in 1993 seemed to be a solution to the solution of contradictions in the system of state power. All questions and problems concerning the relationship and interaction between the head of state and parliament were formulated in the draft of the new Constitution of 1993.

The 1993 Constitution put an end to the differences between the President and Parliament. Parliament literally became a legislative body and was aligned with the status of other branches of power, thereby providing the necessary constitutional and legal balance.


CHAPTER 3. DEVELOPMENT OF THE LEGISLATION ON THE ELECTION OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION IN 1991-2000

Legislation on the election of the President of the Russian Federation is based on constitutional foundations. Thus, a citizen of the Russian Federation who has reached the age of 35 and has permanently resided in the territory of the Russian Federation for at least 10 years can be elected President.

According to the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the procedure for electing the President is determined by federal law. The first such law was adopted on April 24, 1991, the second - "On the Election of the President of the Russian Federation" - on April 21, 1995, with a number of changes. So if the President of the RSFSR was elected for a term of five years, then the President of the Russian Federation was now elected for four years on the basis of universal, equal and direct suffrage by secret ballot. Elections of the President of the RSFSR were appointed by the Congress of People's Deputies of the RSFSR, now - by the Council of Federations of the Federal Assembly.

The federal law granted the right to nominate the President directly to voters and electoral associations. Electoral blocs created for the period of the presidential elections were also entitled to nominate candidates.

Under the 1991 Law, presidential candidates could be nominated by republican political parties, trade unions, and mass social and political movements. Work collectives, meetings of citizens at the place of residence and military personnel in military units also had the right to directly nominate candidates. The ballot paper included candidates supported by 100,000 citizens, as well as candidates who received the support of at least one-fifth of the total number of people's deputies of the RSFSR.

The 1995 law establishes a clearer and more rigorous procedure for nominating candidates for the presidency. Electoral associations nominated candidates at congresses by secret ballot. Citizens exercised their right to directly nominate a candidate by creating an initiative group of voters in the amount of at least 100 people, who then registered with the Central Election Commission.

As before, electoral associations and initiative groups of voters collected voter signatures in support of the candidates. Now it was necessary to collect at least 1 million signatures of voters, and one subject of the Russian Federation should have accounted for no more than 7% of the required number of signatures.

A number of clarifications to the electoral legislation were introduced by the third Federal Law "On the Election of the President of the Russian Federation", adopted on December 31, 1999. The law retained the basic principles of the electoral system contained in the 1995 Law. In addition, the Law contained a number of new provisions. The Law provided for a clearer rule on the term of office of the President of the Russian Federation: he takes office after four years from the day the President elected in the previous elections takes office. Guarantees to ensure the equal status of candidates have been strengthened. The law established a wider list of documents to be submitted by a candidate for the position of President. The Central Election Commission provided information about the amount and sources of income, information about the property not only of the candidate, but also of his closest relatives.

The 1999 law provided the candidate with a number of guarantees, including those of a material nature, ensuring his independence. A presidential candidate could not be prosecuted, arrested, or subjected to administrative penalties imposed in court without the consent of the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation.

In 2003, the fourth Federal Law of January 10, 2003 "On the Election of the President of the Russian Federation" came into force.

It supplemented the 1999 Law. It clarified the procedure for self-nomination of a candidate, as well as the procedure for nominating a candidate by a political party or an electoral bloc. It also set the voting day for the next presidential election - the second Sunday in March.

The 2000 law spelled out in detail the provisions relating to the financial component of the presidential elections, the provision of airtime and print space to candidates.

Thus, there were no fundamental changes in the electoral legislation, but a number of important provisions were introduced, such as: the introduction of a clear norm for the terms of office of the President; strengthened guarantees of equal status of the candidate; providing a number of guarantees to the candidate; a wider list of documents to be submitted by a candidate for the position of the President of the Russian Federation was established, and the procedure for self-nomination of a candidate was clarified. A voting day was also set for the next presidential elections in the Russian Federation.


CHAPTER 4. POWERS OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

The powers of the president cover several areas:

1) powers related to the legislative bodies of state power;

2) powers related to the activities of the executive bodies of state power;

3) powers related to the activities of judicial authorities;

4) powers in the field of defense and ensuring the security of the state;

5) powers in the field of foreign policy;

6) other powers.

§one. Powers of the President of the Russian Federation related to the legislative authorities

The Constitution imposes on the President of the Russian Federation a number of powers related to the activities of the State Duma. The President calls the election of the State Duma in connection with the expiration of its term of office, as well as in the event of its dissolution.

In the legislative sphere, the President of the Russian Federation is endowed with the right of legislative initiative, the right to propose amendments, revise the provisions of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, sign and promulgate laws, and the right of suspensive "veto" in relation to federal laws. The Constitution of the Russian Federation establishes the powers of the President to issue legal acts in the form of decrees and orders, and also establishes the President's appeal to the Federal Assembly. This appeal does not have the force of law, it is in the nature of policy documents.


§2 .Powers of the President of the Russian Federation related to the executive authorities

The President of the Russian Federation is most closely connected with the executive branch. He is not the head of the executive branch and is not part of its system. The President of the Russian Federation exercises influence on the Government of the Russian Federation through personal appointments of its members and making important decisions in the sphere of executive power.

The President appoints the Prime Minister (after agreeing on a candidate for the State Duma), decides on the resignation of the Government. He has the right, at his own discretion, to chair meetings of the Government of the Russian Federation.

The President of the Russian Federation is vested with the right to suspend the acts of the executive authorities of the subjects of the Russian Federation in the event of a conflict between these acts of the Constitution and federal laws, but he cannot suspend the acts of the legislative authorities of these subjects.

§3 .Powers of the President of the Russian Federation related to the judiciary

In accordance with the Constitution of the Russian Federation, judges of the highest judicial bodies of the Russian Federation are appointed on the proposal of the President. Judges of the Constitutional Court are appointed by the Federation Council by secret ballot on the proposal of the President of the Russian Federation.

The President submits to the Council of Federations candidates for the positions of judges of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation, and the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation. On the proposal of the President of the Russian Federation, the Federation Council may dismiss the Prosecutor General from office.

§4 .Powers of the President of the Russian Federation in the field of national defense and state security

According to the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the President appoints and dismisses the high command of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. The President approves the concept and plans for the construction of the Armed Forces, mobilization plans for the preparation and accumulation of mobilization reserves and operational equipment.

The powers of the President include the adoption of decrees on the conscription of citizens for military service, the approval of planned civil defense and the deployment of the Armed Forces. The President determines the main directions of reform in the field of defense and security, the concept of military development.

The President of the Russian Federation forms and heads the Security Council, approves the military doctrine, introduces martial law in the event of aggression or an immediate threat of aggression, and a state of emergency to ensure the country's security.

§five .Powers of the President of the Russian Federation in the field of foreign policy

The President, in cooperation with the Parliament, develops a strategic foreign policy course and directly manages its implementation. The President establishes direct contacts with the heads of other states, personally participates in important international meetings, negotiates on fundamental issues with the heads of state and government of other countries. He personally signs important international treaties on behalf of the Russian Federation.

The President of the Russian Federation is responsible for determining the foreign policy of the state and its implementation by federal state bodies.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation is subordinate to the President on issues assigned to the President by the Constitution and legislative acts of the Russian Federation.

The President receives letters of credence and letters of recall from diplomatic representatives accredited to him.

The President appoints and recalls diplomatic representatives of the Russian Federation in foreign states and international organizations.

Despite all the powers, the President cannot be independent of the Federal Assembly in the implementation of foreign policy, because. Parliament issues the necessary laws, ratifies treaties, allocates funds.

§6 .Powers of the President of the Russian Federation in relation to the subjects of the Federation

The President of the Russian Federation has a very important role in the system of state authorities. It ensures the coordinated work and interaction of public authorities. When performing this function, the President acts as an "arbiter". This refers to the relationship between federal bodies and state authorities of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. To resolve disagreements, the President may use conciliation procedures.

He can use these procedures to resolve conflicts and disagreements, firstly between the state authorities of the Russian Federation and the state authorities of the constituent entities of the Federation, and secondly, between the state authorities of the subjects.

The essence of conciliation procedures is to achieve mutual consent of the parties between which disagreements have arisen and are designed to ensure a solution to the problem without elements of coercion.

§7 .Other powers of the President of the Russian Federation

Art. 89 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation contains a list of powers of the President of the Russian Federation relating to the individual - a citizen, a stateless person, a foreign citizen. The President is authorized to decide the issue of Russian citizenship.

Only the President has the right to grant political asylum.

The President carries out the highest form of state encouragement - the awarding of state awards of Russia. The President confers honorary titles of the Russian Federation, approves the status of orders and regulations on medals, and issues decrees on awarding them.

The President has the right to pardon. The powers of the President also include calling a referendum.

Thus, the powers of the President of the Russian Federation cover a rather large area. The president is endowed with great real powers, which he exercises independently, legally independently of other bodies, but in close cooperation with them.


CHAPTER 5. MAIN STRUCTURES OF THE INSTITUTION OF THE PRESIDENT IN RUSSIA

§one .Administration of the President of the Russian Federation

The Presidential Administration ensures the activities of the head of state, creates conditions for the President to exercise his powers. The Presidential Administration prepares draft decrees, orders, instructions, addresses of the President, and other documents. The Presidential Administration controls and verifies the implementation of federal laws, decrees, orders and instructions of the President and submits relevant reports to him.

The Presidential Administration ensures the interaction of the President with political parties, associations, unions, as well as with state bodies and officials of foreign states, etc.

During its existence, the structure and composition of the RF AP has changed many times.

The current structure of the Presidential Administration was approved by the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of March 25, 2004 "On the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation"

In accordance with the decree, the Head of the Presidential Administration has two deputies. The Presidential Administration includes plenipotentiaries of the President in state authorities, at the European Court of Human Rights, plenipotentiaries of the President in federal districts.

The AP includes 12 independent departments, the Referent Office of the President, and the Office of the President. The Administration also includes the staff of the Security Council.

The Presidential Administration ensures the activities of the State Council, other councils and commissions under the President. There are about 2,000 civil servants in the Administration. The largest of the divisions of the Administration are the Control Department, the State Legal Department, the Department of Information and Documentation Support of the President of the Russian Federation.

AP is a state body, a legal entity, but not an economic entity. The Department of Presidential Affairs is responsible for the material, technical and financial support of the activities of the President and his Administration. It is an independent federal executive body and is not part of the Administration.

§2. Russian Security Council

The prototype of the Security Council can be considered the Security Council of the USSR, formed on December 26, 1990. It was entrusted with the development of recommendations for the implementation of the all-Union policy in the field of defense, for maintaining its reliable state, economic and environmental security, overcoming the consequences of natural disasters and other emergencies, ensuring stability and legal order in society.

By the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of June 3, 1992, the Security Council of the Russian Federation was formed - "to ensure the implementation of the functions of the president in governing the state, the formation of domestic, foreign and military security policy, the preservation of the state sovereignty of Russia, the protection of the rights and freedoms of citizens.

The Security Council prepares decisions of the President of the Russian Federation on the protection of the vital interests of the individual, society and the state from internal and external threats, and the implementation of a unified state policy in the field of security.

The Security Council consists of permanent members of the Security Council appointed by the President of the Russian Federation, including the Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation and Secretary S. B. The Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the director of the FSB are appointed as permanent members of the Security Council. Heads of federal ministries and departments appointed by the President of the Russian Federation may also be members of the Security Council.

The Chairman of the Security Council is the President of the Russian Federation.

The main working bodies of the Security Council are interdepartmental commissions. They are formed in accordance with the main tasks and activities of the Security Council. (Attachment 1)

The scientific support of the activities of the Security Council is carried out by the scientific council, the composition of which is approved by the President of the Russian Federation.

The Scientific Council has the following functions:

Development and improvement of the methodology for identifying, assessing and predicting security threats;

Carrying out a comparative analysis of theoretical provisions and practical measures for the national security of foreign countries;

Participation in the review and evaluation of information on the state of national security of the Russian Federation, etc.

The scientific council includes representatives of the Russian Academy of Sciences, heads of scientific organizations and educational institutions of higher education, as well as individual specialists.

The activity of the Security Council is provided by its apparatus. The structure, staff list and regulations on it are approved by the President of the Russian Federation on the proposal of the Secretary of the Security Council, agreed with the Head of the Presidential Administration.

The Staff of the Security Council prepares for the meetings of the Security Council and materials for them; prepares draft resolutions of the Security Council; develops draft federal laws and UAZs of the President of the Russian Federation; ensures the operation of interdepartmental commissions and the scientific council under the Security Council.

Thus, the Security Council occupies an important place in the system of bodies for ensuring the powers of the President of the Russian Federation, plays a significant role in the policy of ensuring the national security of Russia.

§3. Plenipotentiaries of the President of the Russian Federation

The Institute of Plenipotentiary Representatives of the President of the Russian Federation in the Federal Districts was founded in 2000 as a forced measure to restore the power functions of the federal center in the regions that ignored the requirements and legitimate interests of the Russian Federation.

The territorial representation of the President of the Russian Federation is carried out through his authorized representatives in the federal districts. Seven federal districts have been established.

The plenipotentiary representative is appointed to the position and dismissed by the President of the Russian Federation on the proposal of the Head of the Presidential Administration. The plenipotentiary is directly subordinate to the President and is accountable to him. The Plenipotentiary Representative is a civil servant and is a member of the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation.

The tasks and functions of the plenipotentiary representative of the President of the Russian Federation are derived from presidential competence. Its main tasks include:

1) organization of work on the implementation by public authorities of the main directions of state policy;

2) organization of control over the execution of decisions of federal authorities;

3) ensuring the implementation of the personnel policy of the President of the Russian Federation;

4) submission to the President of reports on ensuring national security in the federal district; political, social and economic situation in the district; making appropriate proposals to the President of the Russian Federation.

The plenipotentiary in the federal district plays an important role in ensuring constitutional legality. It organizes control over the implementation of federal laws, decrees and orders of the President, resolutions of the Government of the Russian Federation, over the implementation of federal programs, and also resolves disagreements between federal state authorities and state authorities of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation located within the federal district.

The plenipotentiary is not endowed with independent competence, his appointment is to ensure the exercise of presidential powers.

§4 .State Council of the Russian Federation

The State Council is an advisory body under the President of the Russian Federation, formed on September 1, 2000. The Chairman of the SG is the President of the Russian Federation, the members are ex officio senior officials of the subjects of the Russian Federation. To resolve operational issues, the Presidium of the Council is formed, consisting of seven of its members, subject to rotation once every six months. Council meetings are held regularly, but at least once every three months. The Presidium meets as needed.

The core tasks of the GS include:

1) assistance in the implementation of the powers of the President to ensure the coordinated functioning and interaction of authorities;

2) assistance to the President of the Russian Federation when he uses conciliation procedures to resolve disagreements between state authorities of the Russian Federation and state authorities of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, as well as between state authorities of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation.

Also, the GC is called upon to discuss, at the suggestion of the President of the Russian Federation, federal laws and decrees of the President of the Russian Federation that are of national importance, including questions about the federal budget.

Thus, the powers of the President of the Russian Federation are exercised through the mechanism of presidential power, the structures of which are each responsible for their own field of activity.


CONCLUSION

From the foregoing, we can conclude that the introduction of the post of President of Russia was the result of progressive democratic processes in Russian society and in its political system, which reflected the process of transformation of political power from the system of party bodies and organizations into the system of state bodies and organizations, including the institution of the president and the Soviets, as well as the desire to fill, with the introduction of the post of President of the RSFSR, a kind of “vacuum” that arose in the process of economic and political reforms, when the “old system”, in which the party was the supreme governing body, outlived itself and was dismantled, since the ongoing processes turned out to be unsupported in due degree by the creation of strong mutually balancing and mutually controlling structures in the state system, the role of which was previously performed by the party. Also, the introduction of the institution of the presidency was caused by the need to change federal ties, the need to strengthen the executive power and improve management efficiency, as well as to make quick decisions on current issues that require prompt intervention.

Thus, in the early 90s, the introduction of the institute of presidency in Russia was vital, in connection with the created political and economic situation. It reflected the process of transformation of political power from the system of party bodies and organizations into the system of state bodies and organizations, including the institution of the presidency and the Soviets.

The emergence of the institution of presidency in the Russian Federation marked the beginning of the reform of the entire executive vertical. Over the past years, the institution of the presidency has overcome the transition from one political system to another, maintaining and strengthening its stability, and since 1993 has changed its status and place among the highest bodies of state power.

Since 1991, the institution of the presidency in Russia, along with other institutions of statehood, has been in the process of constant development and modernization.

The President of the Russian Federation, being the head of state, organizes the interaction of all branches of power, thereby ensuring their coordinated functioning.

Repeated changes in the electoral legislation did not produce significant changes, however, a number of important provisions were introduced, such as: the introduction of a clear norm for the terms of office of the President; strengthened guarantees of equal status of the candidate; providing a number of guarantees to the candidate; a wider list of documents to be submitted by a candidate for the position of the President of the Russian Federation was established, and the procedure for self-nomination of a candidate was clarified. A voting day was also set for the next presidential elections in the Russian Federation.

The president has become endowed with great real powers, which he exercises independently, legally independent of other bodies, but in close cooperation with them, through the mechanism of presidential power, the structures of which are each responsible for their own field of activity.


LIST OF USED SOURCES AND LITERATURE

I . Sources

1. The Constitution of the Russian Federation. Adopted by popular vote December 12, 1993 Ed. official. M., 2005.

2. Federal Law of July 31, 1995 "On the foundations of the public service of the Russian Federation" // SZ RF. 1995. No. 31. Art. 2990.

3. Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of July 9, 1997 "On the plenipotentiary representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the region of the Russian Federation" // SZ RF. 1997. No. 34; 2000 No. 20. Art. 2112.

4. Federal Law of January 10, 2003 "On the Election of the President of the Russian Federation" // SZ RF. 2003. No. 2. Art. 171.

5. Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of March 28, 1998 "On the apparatus of the Security Council of the Russian Federation" // SZ RF. 1998. No. 14. St. 1536; 2004. No. 40. Art. 3929.

6. Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of January 30, 1999 "On additional measures to improve the structure of the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation" // SZ RF. 1999. No. 5. St. 652; 2004. No. 40. Art. 3929.

7. Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of May 13, 2000 "On the Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the Federal District" // SZ RF. 2000. No. 20. St. 2112; 2004. No. 41. Art. 4021.

8. Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of September 1, 2000 "On the State Council of the Russian Federation" // SZ RF. 2000. No. 36. Art. 3633.

9. Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of March 25, 2004 "On the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation" // SZ RF. 2004. No. 13. St. 1188.

II . Literature

10. Modern organization of public institutions in Russia: Textbook / T.G. Arkhipova, E.P. Malyshev. - M.: RGGU, 2006. - 605 p. ill.11. 11. 11. Degtev G.V. Formation and development of the institute of presidency in Russia: theoretical, legal and constitutional foundations / G.V. Degtev. - M. - Jurist, 2006. - 237 p.


LIST OF ACCEPTED ABBREVIATIONS.

AP - Administration of the President of the Russian Federation

State Duma - State Duma

GS - State Council

RF - Russian Federation

SB - Security Council of the Russian Federation

SZ RF - "Collection of Legislation of the Russian Federation"


ATTACHMENT 1

INSTITUTE OF THE PRESIDENCE OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION


APPENDIX 2

INTERDEPARTMENTAL COMMISSIONS OF THE SECURITY COUNCIL OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION.



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