The Principle of Constitutional Identity and Individual Rights: In Search of the Golden Ratio

Abstract

The phenomenon of the constitutional identity of the Russian state in the context of conventional and constitutional conflicts is currently acquiring a special meaning. The need to protect state sovereignty, upholding the traditional model of relations between the individual, society and the state are the urgent tasks facing the Russian Federation being the main focus of the constitutional reform of 2020. In this context, the purpose of the study was the legal analysis of the constitutional identity of the Russian state as a frontier of compromise between the European and national systems of protection of individual rights and freedoms. Disregard for the constitutional identity of the state may lead to its "erosion" and the adverse impact of internationalisation on the foundations of the constitutional order. Guided by the principle of constitutional identity, a state can arrive at the best and legitimate solution in a particular case, which would not contradict national law, but at the same time would not ignore the norms of international treaties. The application of both general scientific and special methods of cognition, the formal-legal method and the method of legal modelling, made it possible to see in the constitutional identity not only the boundary of compromises in Russia's relations with inter-state bodies, but also the distinctiveness of constitutional processes. The conducted analysis of the domestic legal acts led to the conclusion that the principle of constitutional identity is an inviolable foundation of the constitutional state and its model of ensuring the individual rights and freedoms in the traditional system of values. The indicators and trends of crime for the period from 1991 to 2020 are given.