Forms of government in the foreign countries of the former Soviet Union

Introduction: the article analyzes the forms of government in the former countries of the Soviet Union. Purpose: to consider the provisions of the constitutions of the CIS and Baltic countries and to substantiate the proposition that the form of government is determined based on the procedure for the formation of the highest state bodies, the status of the head of state, as well as the responsibility of the highest state bodies to each other and the population. Methods: apart from general scientific methods, some specific scientific methods were widely used, including comparative legal and systemic ones. Results: the forms of government in the countries of the former Soviet Union were influenced by the tendencies of the national statehood restoration (Baltic states), and also reception of provisions from constitutions of some foreign states (Russia, France, Romania). However, typical forms of government are only found in the Baltic states. In the CIS countries, there are mixed forms of government, combining the advantages and disadvantages of different forms of rule. Conclusions: the forms of government of some CIS and Baltic countries have undergone repeated changes. In the foreign countries of the CIS, two main trends can be observed: there is an increase in power of either the president or the parliament. In Moldova, Georgia, and Armenia, constitutional reforms resulted in the establishment of a parliamentary republic, while in Belarus, Azerbaijan, and Turkmenistan a superpresidential form of government was actually established. At the same time, the forms of government of the CIS countries are constantly changing, which is largely due to the political conjuncture and the desire of the ruling political elite to retain its power through the constitutional reforms.