Making Rights: The Development Of Constitutional Consciousness In Russia

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This project will examine the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation and its role in the protection of the rights of citizens. Since 1992, tens of thousands of Russian citizens have filed petitions, asking the court to assist them in realizing their constitutionally guaranteed rights. In a typical year, the court gets more than 10,000 such petitions. While many fall outside court's jurisdiction, about half of the petitions raise a constitutional question that merits further analysis. And while the court answers few of these petitions through formal published decisions on the merits, the court answers every letter, trying to clarify petitioners' legal rights on a one-to-one basis or assisting in defining the petitioners' legal options without rendering a formal decision. The principal investigator will study this developing dialogue about rights by drawing a sample of petitions and examining the claims that petitioners have made, as well as the court's responses. By studying this interaction over the last ten years, this research will trace the emergence of constitutional consciousness in Russia in its first post-soviet decade.