• Constitution-making in the informal Soviet empire in Eastern Europe, East Asia, and Inner Asia, 1945–1955

    Author(s):
    Ivan Sablin (see profile)
    Date:
    2022
    Group(s):
    Soviet and Russian history and culture
    Subject(s):
    History, Political science
    Item Type:
    Book chapter
    Tag(s):
    eastern european history, state socialism, constitutions
    Permanent URL:
    https://doi.org/10.17613/vtvd-7g73
    Abstract:
    This chapter provides an overview of dependent constitution-making under one-party regimes in Albania, Bulgaria, China, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, North Korea, Mongolia, Poland, Romania, and Yugoslavia during the first decade after the Second World War. Employing and further developing the concept of the informal Soviet empire, it discusses the structural adjustments in law and governance in the Soviet dependencies. The chapter outlines the development of the concepts of “people's republic” and “people's democracy” and discusses the process of adoption and the authorship of the constitutions. It then compares their texts with attention to sovereignty and political subjectivity, supreme state institutions, and the mentions of the Soviet Union, socialism, and ruling parties. Finally, it surveys the role of nonconstitutional institutions in political practices and their reflection in propaganda. The process of constitution-making followed the imperial logic of hierarchical yet heterogeneous governance, with multiple vernacular and Soviet actors partaking in drafting and adopting the constitutions. The texts ascribed sovereignty and political subjectivity to the people, the toilers, classes, nationalities, and regions, often in different combinations. Most of the constitutions established a parliamentary body as the supreme institution, disregarding separation of powers, and introduced a standing body to perform the supreme functions, including legislation, between parliamentary sessions, which became a key element in the legal adjustment. Some constitutions mentioned socialism, the Soviet Union, and the ruling parties.
    Notes:
    This study was completed as part of the project “ENTPAR: Entangled Parliamentarisms: Constitutional Practices in Russia, Ukraine, China and Mongolia, 1905–2005,” which received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (grant agreement no. 755504).
    Metadata:
    xml
    Published as:
    Book chapter     Show details
    Pub. DOI:
    https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003264972-8
    Publisher:
    Routledge
    Pub. Date:
    2022-8-15
    Book Title:
    Parties as Governments in Eurasia, 1913–1991: Nationalism, Socialism, and Development
    Author/Editor:
    Ivan Sablin, Egas Moniz Bandeira
    Chapter:
    7
    Page Range:
    178 - 222
    ISBN:
    9781003264972
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    1 year ago
    License:
    Attribution
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