Constitutional and Legal Status of Political Opposition

Abstract

Alebastrova Irina - Assistant Professor, Department of Constitutional (state) law of Foreign Countries,Kutafin Moscow State Law University. E-mail: msal@msal.ru
Address: Sadovaya-Kudrinskaya St., 9, 123995, Moscow, Russian Federation

The paper is a review of the book by S.V. Vasilieva Constitutional Law Status of Political Opposition made primarily on the analysis of Russian reality. The review aims to reveal advantages and disadvantages of the publication. Among the advantages of the book, one can mention that it is an attempt to theorize on oppositional forces. The book contains a detailed grounding of the thesis that opposition is an integral part of a democratic state. A law-abiding opposition involving the minority is an impulse for the ruling elite and its structure to improve, averts the government from many mistakes, is able to enrich the political agenda of state government. Its aim is a function of a creating destroyer. Political opposition is especially efficient if it has an opportunity to become the ruling the majority in the near future and acquire the instruments of public power. The author’s attitude that political opposition claiming power should be organized does not meet any objections. It allows accumulating financial and ideological resources which serve as a pledge for success in a competitive political struggle. As to the disadvantages of the publication, the author comes to the following conclusions. The work is not topical as the opposition is not in demand either public opinion in Russia or the ruling elite. The majority of society does not feel any political or psychological need in opposition. It should be emphasized that the work contains a number of controversial or erroneous statements. In particular, it has been mentioned that political competition is possible and desirable not only for political parties and parliament. However, according to the author the proof of the assumption remains a puzzle. The proposal to legalize the enrichment of political process by public associations does not hold. The statement is made on the assumption that the latter are free from defects affected by the parties - dictatorship, secrecy etc. In this case public associations will inevitably be so politicized that they will become parties.