A Vision for a Better but Centralized Union

Abstract

Andrei D. Sakharov’s vision knew no limits; the human rights fighter, a true believer in the possibility of peace and disarmament across the world had completed, just before his sudden death, a draft of the Constitution of the Union of Soviet Republics of Europe and Asia. This bold document was submitted by Sakharov to the Constitutional Commission and although it wasn’t acted upon, its many visionary provisions did stimulate significant debates. No doubt the repealing of the infamous Paragraph 6 of the USSR Constitution and thus the collapse of the Communist Party monopoly and subsequent dissolution of the Soviet empire are direct outcomes of Sakharov’s tireless efforts to foster political change. Like many drafts of new constitutions written in Central and Eastern Europe in the late 1980s and early 1990s, this draft also reflects a particular point in time: it is visionary and forward looking and yet also strongly embedded in the past.1 What makes this draft different from others is Sakharov’s commitment to global governance, an unusual approach in a document that usually serves national needs. Throughout decades of dissident activism, Sakharov became deeply committed to the struggle for freedom and security of humankind regardless of social, racial or ethnic markings; for him all citi-