From Counterweight to Pillar of Power
The Constitutional Court in Russia’s Authoritarianism
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
In the early 1990s, Russia’s Constitutional Court was a counterweight to the office of the president. Today, it is a pillar of President Putin’s power. From the late 1990s until the amendment of the constitution in 2020, the court cov-ered up the Kremlin's increasingly authoritarian policies by disguising the ever-increasing discrepancy between the 1993 constitution and political practice. When this was no longer possible, the court submitted to politics. One of those who benefitted from this was current Constitutional Court President Valerii Zor'kin. The Kremlin’s loyal henchman now has a position of power within the court that is just as unrestricted as Putin’s throughout the entire state.
(Osteuropa 6-7/2024, pp. 87–104)