Ideals in Law and Law in Ideology: The History of Domestic Sovereignty

The author analyzes the problem of the multidimensional concept of domestic sovereignty, the ratio of compulsory state ideology and national idea. To study the question posed from different perspectives the author applies the most important provisions of the theory of state and law, as well as the methodology of historical and legal analysis. It seems that sovereignty is an integral feature of any power that has gone all the chronological way from understanding its own identity to ethnic identity. On the one hand, this is the supremacy of state power in the indivisible territories of a multinational federation. On the other hand, the independence and inalienability of sovereignty make up its external side, which is seen in the relations of the state with world communities. By delegating its autonomy to another, the power risks losing its freedom. Nevertheless, it should be remembered that the essence of sovereignty and unlimited state power are very different, because the latter in a democratic society should be based on law and be limited by it. This idea is directly combined with the basis of constitutionalism, which solves the problem of the coexistence of moral and ethical aspects of the norms of justice and the power of legislation. The centuries-old history of the Russian Federation as a civilization with an extensive material and spiritual heritage, recognizing ideological diversity, proves the primacy of popular sovereignty in relation to the State. The domestic chronicle clearly demonstrates that in Russian reality both total ideologization and the absence of popular values are not viable. The Eurasian paradigm of our power, like a pendulum, staying on the convergence of the path of Europe and Asia, forces us to respond to the ideological tendencies of the West and select the legal ideals of the East. Eternal disputes, confrontations and the birth of myth oblige the sovereign, without renouncing reality, on a par with the people to preserve the integrity of the Russian idea present in the domestic identity.

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