The Constitutional Review Models from Transitional Countries: A case of Russia

The Russian Constitutional Court was established in 1991 as the consequence of the profound political and social transformation of Soviet society. Since then, the Constitutional Court performed the role of reformer of Russian constitutional order, generator of contemporary ‘living constitutionalism.’ This paper briefly examines the history, composition, authorities, and the essential attributes of judicial precedents of this unique institution, and evaluates its performance. One of the core distinctions of the Russian Constitutional Court, compared with its Asian counterparts, is that it cooperates with the international judicial organization in the field of human rights protection. This paper sheds light on the relationship between the Russian Constitutional Court and the ECtHR and attempts to reveal the contradictory position, which the Constitutional Court holds under today’s complicated political situation in Russia.