The concept of sovereign Russian statehood in the annual messages of the head of state (1994–2024)

About the author:

Nataliya T. Leonenko, Cand. Sci. (Jur.), Associate Professor, Department of the Siberian Institute of Management — Branch of Russian Presidential Academy of National Economics and Public Administration, Novosibirsk, Russia; lnnk@yandex.ru

Abstract:

This study aims to analyze the annual messages of the head of state to the Russian Federal Assembly on the situation in the country, on the main directions of domestic and foreign policy of the state through contextual consideration of their value concepts about the meanings of Russian historical existence, purpose, and civilizational essence. The author identifies the main provisions that make up the concept of sovereign Russian statehood and isolates its essential elements, although without an exhaustive theoretical construction. The chronological framework covers the 1994–2024 period. The results highlight the relevance of the state sovereignty idea; explain how the country’s top officials understand this idea as an unconditional benefit for Russia; show the inextricable link between Russia’s survival and preservation with the consolidation of society around traditional values and moral guidelines developed by the state-forming people in their historical development; describe the emerging trend of rethinking liberal democracy and a new paradigm of the Russian model of the constitutional system, synthesizing elements of various state-legal regimes, which may indicate a transition to a national conservative approach closer to the “state-civilization” theory.

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