Review of the monograph by Academician V.A. Cherepanov "Stavropol Krai as a federal subject of the Russian Federation. Constitutional and legal study"

Sadounichy Albert Arturovich ORCID: 0000-0002-1570-7469 Albert Sadounichy 03-733, Poland, Masovian Voivodeship, Warsaw, Targova str., 42, sq. 22 albertsadovnichy@gmail.com

The form of government is one of the most important issues of the effectiveness of domestic policy. The dynamics of the modern administrative division of the Russian Federation, as the largest geographically state in the world, is characterized by significant inconsistency, when, on the one hand, objective economic, political, historical conditions necessitate a federal model, on the other, the complexity of maintaining territorial integrity proves its role. The most important issues are the construction of legal models taking into account regional peculiarities, manifestations of the division of state powers, as well as how this mechanism practically affects the functioning of public authorities. In this context, attention is focused on the study of the essential features of the modern structure of public power in Russia, the designation of a general concept.

Of particular scientific relevance is the critical analysis of the existing realities of large federal subjects, which, during the formation of a new federal statehood, received mechanisms of their own legislative regulation and thereby designated the possession of a certain regional statehood. V.A. Cherepanov's monograph "Stavropol Territory as a subject of the Russian Federation" fits into the framework of such an analysis in a special way. Constitutional and legal research". The author of the monograph, using the example of Stavropol, critically analyzes the concept of Russian statehood, showing the main modern systemic contradictions, the evolution of this concept, and mechanisms for transferring part of the powers. The research focuses not only on a comprehensive study of constitutional and administrative mechanisms, but also on the development of a model draft of the Charter of the region for legitimizing the formation of regional statehood, establishing feedback between all participants in the political process. The work attracts attention with its practical orientation, adapting a complex system of public authority actions in a special way.

Using the example of describing the problems of distortion of the will of the people, violation of the rights and freedoms of citizens, while providing alternative ways to solve them, taking into account the peculiarities of the development of regional construction, V.A. Cherepanov in the reviewed work shows the Russian "conceptual legal grid" [p. 7] of improving the federal structure.

Starting with the preface, in which the author focuses on the fact that the research "... is not carried out in the memoir-historical genre ..., but unfolds as the disclosure of objective patterns of development" [p. 8], he emphasizes the originality of the process of scientific understanding. The book inclines to reflection on how meaningfully the process of constitutionalization of the vital activity of the regions of Russia is analyzed.

It is noteworthy that the author of the monograph, structuring it as a comprehensive constitutional and legal study, laid a kind of foundation and determined the prospects for further research on the trends of the regional legal system both in the legislative and in the political plane.

The formation of the public-power structure of subjects within the framework of the Russian federal system is described as a contradictory process filled with a number of insinuations and distortions of a meaningful nature and formal implementation. The functioning of the unified legal space of the Russian Federation, restored after the phenomenon of "fleeing republics", did not provide a clear mechanism for the division of power between the federal system and its subjects. A political and legal situation has arisen in which, with a high level of centralization, there is no agreement on the vertical division of state power, and there is inequality among various federal subjects. Therefore, it is necessary to create the foundations for achieving reliance on the interests of the regions within the framework of the state structure.

It is noteworthy that a large role in the book is given to the axiological approach of analyzing the legal nature of the people as a source of power. A clear structuring of the mechanisms of the social system has been carried out. In this context, a detailed description of the Legal Idyll is highlighted, within which "an abstract people is in contradictory, but still unity with the authorities they create" [p. 47]. It should be noted that the line of reliance on the will of the people as a "collective citizen" and the subject of power relations can be traced throughout the book, thereby emphasizing the importance of translating the issue of democracy in the subjects of Russia into a practical plane and eliminating contradictions between the people and authorities.

The disclosure of the topic of the formation of the Stavropol Territory as an equal subject of the Russian Federation is carried out in the second chapter of the book. In the text, the author describes in detail the non-observance of the principle of separation of powers and the concentrated dominance of executive power in the region. It is important that, as in other matters, V.A. Cherepanov relies on empirical data (examples of migration, tax, and judicial decisions are described), emphasizing that this is the confirming factor of the need for changes. Each of the decisions taken is described very systematically, despite some specificity, one-sidedness of the presentation. The information is provided in the form of a dialogue with the reader with some elements of the conversational genre. This makes it easier to perceive the logic of the development of the author's theoretical reflections.

 The third chapter of the reviewed work presents a reasoned description of the model of statehood in the Stavropol Territory and the study of ways to consolidate it in the legal system. The development of clear causal links between legal practices in the field of electoral legislation is of practical importance, since this detailed analysis emphasizes the desire to offer the most universal option. In practice, the author suggests reducing the level of application of the proportional electoral system and choosing a part of the corps through a multi-mandate majority system, since the existing system is quite contradictory and ineffective.

It should be noted that in many cases, citizens are put in an unequal position when nominating their representatives, which is the problem of removing the people from exercising electoral power. Based on empirical data, the author consistently sets out the difficulties of determining the responsibilities of elected persons to the population. It can be concluded that there is a significant problem of violation of feedback between the people and the authorities, the need for consistency in the functioning of the interaction mechanism. It is shown that with the developed mechanism of complication of the internal structure, public authorities will only increase their efficiency and constructiveness of interaction with society, and, consequently, directly the stability of the state system. 

The skill of disclosing the topic of redistribution of tax revenues allows you to comprehensively understand the subtleties of the nature and orientation of most of the accepted guarantees. In this context, attention is drawn to the fact that the multilevel system of contractual relations developed by the author assumes a kind of unification of standards. Thus, in the conditions of the federation, with broad regionalization, an effective tax structure is being developed, which contributes to ensuring the principle of justice and preserving the common realization of the rights of Russian citizens.

A brief analysis of the special status of the Caucasian Mineral Waters resort, located on the territory of three regions of Russia, presented in the book, attracts to a large extent some evaluative subjectivity and one-sidedness. Deservedly noting certain problems of the legal regime of such resort areas, the author focuses on criticizing the adopted federal acts and the lack of alternative contractual norms of the Russian Federation with each region separately. However, the removal of a number of mostly political problems related to ensuring stability and national security of the entire federation can be traced. The indicated success of the contractual practice between the Russian Federation and the Stavropol Territory, taking into account the granting of a more independent constitutional and legal status to the subject, does not take into account the complexity of the political and socio-economic life of the Caucasian region. Reliance not on federal law, but on contractual practice may cause disagreement of approaches in the republics, which will not contribute to improving the status and safety of this resort, but on the contrary, increase the even greater otherness of approaches in different regions.

However, considering that, both in the title of the monograph and in the definition of the subject, the emphasis is not on a political science assessment and analysis of the complexities of national security in the Caucasus, but on the study of the principles of separation of state power, regional legal regulation of a stable region, this does not reduce the cognitive importance of this analysis. In addition, the author emphasizes the appeal specifically to the importance of strengthening the state unity of the Russian Federation.

Summarizing the above, the conducted research showed the functioning of the division of state powers in the constitutional practice of the subjects of the Russian Federation, alternative legal models taking into account regional peculiarities. The monograph is a kind of informative manual on a comprehensive analysis of the mechanisms of the concept of the structure of public power in the subjects of the Russian Federation, highlighting the essential features of the modern structure of public power in the state. It is important that it describes the practical mechanisms of constitutionalization of the vital activity of the regions of Russia. This work is the foundation for continuing further research on the development of the federal model of government in Russia. In this context, appeals to the issue of democracy, the construction of new legal models, their conditionality and influence on the processes of domestic policy have acquired research significance. The result could be a systematic study of trends in the development of regional statehood in all subjects of the federation. This monograph is a unique step in this direction.

From the point of view of practical significance, the presented study can be recommended to those who carry out administrative, political, and public activities in practice in the Stavropol Territory and other regions of the Russian Federation, as well as to anyone engaged in political science and legal research.