Constitution development cyclicity and factors that influence it

Abstract

The article is dedicated to the study of certain aspects of the constitution development cyclicity and the factors that influence such cyclicity. The author emphasizes that the state, society and the constitution are in constant interconnection with each other, and therefore formation of cyclicity of constitution development is inseparable from other legal phenomena. It was found that cyclicity is characterized by stability (invariability of the stages (phases) forming cyclicity of constitution development) and survivability (dynamics that forms the constitution’s ability to adapt to new challenges and tasks arising in society). The author draws attention to both actual and legal constitutions. It was established that: a) actual and legal constitutions are indeed independent juridical phenomena, however, they interact with each other and that is manifested in the aspect that de facto relations which influence emergence of an actual constitution contribute to changes of a legal constitution; b) the factors under which de facto relations are formed in the state serve as prerequisites for beginning, development or termination of the stages of adoption, reform and invalidation of the constitution. The author specifies that, since the constitution functions within the political organization of society, all factors relating to cyclicity of its development in relation to the state can be divided into internal factors arising in the state (social, cultural, economic, political, etc.) and foreign policy factors (adoption of international acts, unilateral acts of other states, etc.) which influence determination of a political course and orientation of the state and contribute to dynamism of the constitution’s life cycle. The author gives an example of an internal (political) factor influencing cyclicity of the constitution development – a choice of a new vector of Ukraine’s policy towards membership in the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization that resulted in introduction of amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine in 2019. The other example given is associated with a foreign policy factor – constitutional changes in Germany in 2022 aimed at increasing the budget expenditures of the state for its army’s defense capability because of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.