Initiative Projects in the Russian Federation: Constitutional and Legal Understanding

Abstract

The article is devoted to initiative projects — a new democratic institution of the modern legal state. The author examines the legal nature of initiative projects, analyzes its role in expanding the boundaries of the constitutional principle of democracy. It is established that initiative projects should be distinguished from initiative (participatory) budgeting in the focus of priority distribution when implementing such projects. The author raises the question of the necessity and expediency of studying the multifaceted understanding of initiative projects. It is proposed to be guided by an objective and subjective approach in solving the issue. At the same time, the article reveals the legal nature of the initiative project as a form of participation of the population in the implementation of local self-government, that should be separated from the form of direct implementation by the population of local self-government. In a comparative aspect, the legal nature of initiative projects and other similar forms (voting on self-taxation of citizens; public hearings on the draft budget and its performance report). Based on the above, the author concludes that the initiative project is a novelty that contributes to the intensification of citizens’ participation in solving issues of socio-economic development of their territory within the framework of the constitutional and legal model of relations between the individual, society and the state.