The post of President in the liberal projects of state structure in the Russian Democratic Republic in the early 20th century

Abstract

This article explores the place and role of the institution of President in the liberal lawmaking in the early 20th century, examines the results of a comparative study of the texts of liberal drafts of Constitution of Russia at the beginning of the 20th century relating to this topic, as well as the law-making process of the Special Committee and the Minister of Justice in the Provisional Government. The author concludes that the liberal projects relating to the introduction and functioning of the institution of Acting (Provisional) President had a very insignificant effect on official lawmaking in 1917. Nevertheless, they are an exceptionally important source for characterizing the liberal lawmaking in the era of systemic social and political crisis. In author’s opinion, the project of introducing the post of Provisional President in Russia confirms the general conclusion that the liberal recipes for overcoming systemic crises, based on supremacy of legal ways of transforming public life, do not work. In a revolutionary time, the choice of society tends toward other ways of reforming the social reality and seeks recipes for overcoming the social crises that offer simple solutions understandable to the broad masses.

Keywords

• liberal lawmaking
• liberal drafts of russian constitution
• the post of president
• lawmaking of the provisional government