Maracha, V.G., Matyukhin, A.A. On the 20th Anniversary of the Institutional Separation of Powers in Russia: the Lessons of the French Constitution of 1958

Abstract: This article is devoted to the comparative analysis of the key state institutions of Russia and France, as provided for by the current Constitutions of these states. Much attention is paid to the institutional separation of powers, and the authors use an original institutional method and the institutional functional theory of state for its analysis. Within the framework of this theory the classic theory of separation of powers can be developed on the basis of “institutional components of power”. It allows the authors to evaluate the specific features of the institution of the President and constitutional control/supervision, as well as the constitutional mechanisms for the interaction of institutional components in Russia and in France. For the analysis of the French model of institutional separation of powers the authors use the Commentary to the Constitution of the French Republic of 1958, which was written by one of the founders of this model Guy Carcassonne, and which is based upon the concept of “modern democracy” as the developed form of the rule-of-law state in a state with high political and legal development. Based upon this concept the authors give their response to the question of what made France a modern democracy at the time of the V Republic, and what the lessons we are to learn from the constitutional structure of modern France.

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