Designing a Democratic Russia — Petr Safronov

29. 6. 2023

This episode of The IR thinker examines a proposed new Russian constitution developed under the leadership of Dr Petr Safronov and grounded in republican political philosophy. The discussion considers why a new constitutional framework is being advanced, the core values and institutional reforms it envisages, and what a republican reconfiguration of Russia’s legal order, separation of powers and federal structure might mean for the country’s future.

Petr Safronov

Petr Safronov is a philosopher, education researcher and artist, currently a guest researcher at the University of Amsterdam. His work focuses on multidisciplinary projects at the intersection of scholarship, educational design and the arts, undertaken with partners such as the Oxford Russia Foundation, the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, EdTech firms, private schools and social entrepreneurs. He publishes in both Russian and English on philosophy, education studies and history.

You can preview a new draft of the constitution.

Content

00:00 Introduction
02:13 Reasons and Driving Force Behind the Project
03:20 People Supporting the Project
04:36 Role of Republican Political Philosophy
05:56 Current Russian Constitution
07:20 Issue With ‘Federation’
08:40 Position of the Current Russian Constitution Within the Legal System
10:28 Three Proposed Values and Principles
16:18 Why Should Russia be a Republic?
20:21 Can Russia Use Current State Infrastructure to Build a Republic?
22:42 Russia Needs Working Institutions
24:40 Why Should Be the Russian Constitutional Court Abolished?
27:30 Russian Orthodox Church and Secularity
30:31 Balanced Religious Perspective
32:00 Energy Security in Russia
35:32 Academic Freedom
39:34 Getting Russian Citizenship by ‘ius soli’
41:25 Auditing Regional Budgets
42:50 Federative Treaty
46:29 Role of the President
48:07 Foreign Policy
50:51 Symbols of Russia
52:00 How to Implement All Provisions of the New Constitution?
53:20 Other Drafts of Russian Constitution
55:30 Is It Possible to Reform Russia Without New Constitution?