Designing a Democratic Russia — Petr Safronov

This episode of The IR thinker examines a proposed new Russian constitution developed under the leadership of Dr Petr Safronov and grounded in republican political philosophy. The discussion considers why a new constitutional framework is being advanced, the core values and institutional reforms it envisages, and what a republican reconfiguration of Russia’s legal order, separation of powers and federal structure might mean for the country’s future.Petr SafronovPetr Safronov is a philosopher, education researcher and artist, currently a guest researcher at the University of Amsterdam. His work focuses on multidisciplinary projects at the intersection of scholarship, educational design and the arts, undertaken with partners such as the Oxford Russia Foundation, the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, EdTech firms, private schools and social entrepreneurs. He publishes in both Russian and English on philosophy, education studies and history.You can preview a new draft of the constitution.Content00:00 Introduction02:13 Reasons and Driving Force Behind the Project03:20 People Supporting the Project04:36 Role of Republican Political Philosophy05:56 Current Russian Constitution07:20 Issue With ‘Federation’08:40 Position of the Current Russian Constitution Within the Legal System10:28 Three Proposed Values and Principles16:18 Why Should Russia be a Republic?20:21 Can Russia Use Current State Infrastructure to Build a Republic?22:42 Russia Needs Working Institutions24:40 Why Should Be the Russian Constitutional Court Abolished?27:30 Russian Orthodox Church and Secularity30:31 Balanced Religious Perspective32:00 Energy Security in Russia35:32 Academic Freedom39:34 Getting Russian Citizenship by ‘ius soli’41:25 Auditing Regional Budgets42:50 Federative Treaty46:29 Role of the President48:07 Foreign Policy50:51 Symbols of Russia52:00 How to Implement All Provisions of the New Constitution?53:20 Other Drafts of Russian Constitution55:30 Is It Possible to Reform Russia Without New Constitution?Follow & Further ResourcesSubstack: https://theirthinker.substack.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ir-thinker/X: https://x.com/irthinker_Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theirthinker/Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/theirthinker.bsky.socialFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/irthinkerfb Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.