The Affect Of The Authority Worship Tradition On The Constitutionalism Proceedings In Russia

The worship of political authorities is a phenomenon with a long history in Russia, and this shapes a unique cultural tradition of the Russian. The authority worship tradition has a far-reaching influence on the progress and development of the Russian. In particular, the proceedings of the constitutionalism are characterized by manifestations of personal factors due to the worship of authorities. Accordingly, the proceedings of the constitutionalism are full of uncertainty, unpredictability and confusion. All these find expression not only in czarist times but also in this day and age; though the constitutional system has been set up in Russia today, it is still challenged by the personally authority of political leaders.The Russian, as a nation, is relatively young and has suffered a lot of hardships. In the process of national evolution, the soul of this nation forms a style of unique femininity and is full of sensibility. These characteristics make the nation easy to embrace the strong, and submissive to authority or control thereof. This tradition evolves gradually and has a profound effect on the development and history of the nation. Being almost irreconcilable with the constitutionalism idea originating from the west, the tradition of authority worship has far-reaching influence on Russian constitution proceedings. This thesis orientates to explore the history of authority worship tradition in Russian and the proceedings of Russian constitutionalism, and intends to analyze the junctions of the two social consciousnesses.This thesis mainly consists of the following five parts:The Introduction describes briefly the general election held in 2008 and the first constitution amendment of Russia, the dissention and mediates between different parties. The Introduction also narrates the research history about the Russian constitutionalism and the Russian cultures, and the relative academic opinions. Meanwhile, the Introduction illustrates the research angle and ways of writing in this thesis. In the Introduction, the author puts forward that, during the research of authority worship and constitutional proceedings, the first goal is to lay out the historic events, and all the summarization and induction is based on historic foundations.Chapter one introduces the forming, evolution and reasons for the tradition of authority worship in Russia. From primeval nature worship to czar worship under the absolutism, then to personality cult during the Soviet Period, and finally to Putin worship under the western democratic system, the authority worship of Russian has a clear historic venation. Though the reasons for the forming of such a tradition in different periods vary, they are interlaced and interactive with each other, and are in essence all originating from the national spirit and the above mentioned soul of the Russian. The fundamental reasons for forming the Russian's national characteristics are as follows: the Russian have gone through all kinds of hardships in history and they are affected by the double effect of both the eastern and the western cultures.Chapter two looks back the constitutional proceeding in Russia, and mainly introduces evolution of the Russian constitutional ideas and constitutional systems. The Russian constitutional ideas include the primary constitutional ideas in early times and the constitutionalism exploration under the influence of Enlightenment Thought; the evolution of the Russian constitutional systems went through the whole Modern and Contemporary Russia history: from the later stage under the czars, to the national revolutionary stage, then to the Soviet Period, and finally to the stage after the demise of the Soviet Union. This chapter mainly exposes that, no matter the primary constitutional ideas in early times or the constitutionalism exploration under the influence of Enlightenment Thought, no matter under the absolutism or under the western democratic system, an authoritative leader have been serving as the key element of the constitutional proceedings in Russia.Chapter three analyzes the aforementioned contents, and summarizes the influence of the authority worship tradition on the constitutional proceedings. The thesis first exposes the essence of authority worship and the internal conflicts between authority worship and constitutionalism, points out that it is essentially conflicts between sensibility and sense, conflicts between "Rule by Man" and "Rule by Law", that these conflicts are irreconcilable, and that the affect thereof can be divided into two aspects: accelerating the progress of the constitution and decelerating the development thereof at the same time. This chapter reveals that it finally chains and blocks the proceedings of constitutionalism, though affirming that authority worship facilitates the constitutional proceedings in some special historic periods.The Epilogue first summarizes the "sensibility" of authority worship and then concludes that, as a production of sense, law cannot become the authority of the Russian, that Russia is now under the polity that "authority is combined with de jure", and that the deep influence of historic and cultural tradition makes the road of constitutionalism in Russia rather tortuous.