The performative logic of the Soviet constitutions and the (im)possibility of a political action

Bibliographic Data

ID12977852
AuthorsNatalia Kovalyova (0000-0002-2248-5278, University of North Texas at Dallas, corresponding author)
Year2015
Volume7
Issue3
Pages259-271
Publication date2015-09-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueRussian Journal of Communication (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1940-9427 • E-ISSN: 1940-9419
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/19409419.2015.1084241
OpenAlexW1905763282
LanguageEN
References cited14

Constitutions are tenacious documents that – amended and adjusted – survive a high tide of political turmoil. What helps them endure and earn the title of living documents? This broad question animates the present inquiry into the language of constitutions. Triangulating theoretical insights from the works by J.L Austin, John Searle, and Jacques Derrida, this study examines the five Soviet constitutions in order to uncover the coordinates of the Soviet – and now Russian – political world engendered by them. The analysis finds that (1) over time, the Soviet constitutional texts lost their prescriptive edge and slid into descriptiveness, that (2) the focus on new institutions present in the first constitution of 1918 has not resurfaced in 1993, the year when possibilities for a political renewal seemed to abound, and that (3) the post-Soviet Constitution has grown prohibitive, banning, restricting, and limiting the undesirable actions, entities, and developments. The discussion elaborates on the kind of politics anticipated and made possible within these coordinates

Action (physics · Constitution · Economics · Epistemology · Focus (optics · Limiting · Order (exchange · Performative utterance · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Engineering · Hannah Arendt's Political Philosophy · Judicial and Constitutional Studies · Law · Philosophy · Political Theology and Sovereignty

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