Constitution and International Law: A New Model of Interaction

The paper analyzes the constitutional reform in Russia with an emphasis on the constitutional amendment on the interaction of the norms of international law and national legislation within the domestic legal system. Constitutional provisions and doctrinal approaches enshrined there play an important role in ensuring stable and predictable international relations. The paper discusses the possibility of applying two classical doctrines on the relationship between international and national law (dualistic and monistic) to the definition of the characteristics of amendments to Article 79 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation. The authors substantiate the necessity of introducing constitutional amendments from the point of view of the development of international relations and the maturation of domestic political, economic and social conditions over the past decades. Some doctrines of interpretation of international treaties of interstate bodies and the possibility of determining the parameters of their execution in the legal system of Russia are considered. It is concluded that the new model of interaction between international and Russian law corresponds to the principle of sovereign equality of states enshrined in the UN Charter. The authors summarize that the supplement of the constitutional norm under consideration clarifies the constitutional model of the relationship between international and Russian law. It allows for the full implementation of the provisions of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, as well as the execution of international legal acts, including decisions of interstate bodies that comply with the Constitution of the Russian Federation, which eliminates possible threats to destabilize the rule of law of the state. Thus, we are not talking about adopting a radical model of the primacy of national law over international law, but rather about adapting the doctrine of dialectical interaction between Russian and international law to the needs of modern development of our state.

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