The Nature of Russian Power and the History of Popular Representation in Russia

Introduction. The 1993 Constitution stated that modern Russia is a democratic, law-governed, social and democratic state. This type of political regimes is characterized by: separation of powers, market economy, competition, regular elections on the basis of law and reelections of all levels of government, existence of opposition, citizens' control over the activities of public authorities. Representative bodies based on the electoral system, representing all classes and social groups of the society play an important role in this process. Representative authorities accumulate the interests of these social groups and on the basis of compromise ensure their implementation taking into account the interests of the majority. Materials, Results and Discussion. The modern world is represented by various models of social development: liberal, conservative, socialist, nationalist and others. However, in all of them representative institutions play a key role in the political process and have a significant impact on the development of the state and society. The historical formation of representative bodies in different countries was determined by their special historical development. In Western Europe, the first beginnings of representative institutions appeared as early as the 13th century, and centuries of experience of interaction with executive bodies contributed to the establishment of a law-governed state based on the separation of powers. In this system, representative bodies protect the interests of the majority of citizens through state policy. The emergence of the law-governed state makes it possible to tackle more effectively complex issues of social development faced by peoples in the course of their history. Examination of the process of emergence and evolution of representative authorities with legislative functions and public administration bodies with advisory functions in Russia (Veche, Zemsky Sobor, State Council, State Duma) and their interaction with the Russian autocracy on the way to democratic transformation through popular elections constitute the main topic of this article. Conclusions. The study showed that the process of formation of representative authorities in the history of Russia is qualitatively different from the history of Western countries. Having common initial positions and demonstrating the same approach in search of general agreement in choosing the decisions necessary for the development of the state in 9-12th centuries, since the 15th century the Russian state demonstrates qualitatively different way of development, which characteristic feature was the elimination of representative authorities as an elected institution protecting the interests of different social groups of society. In Russia, state institutions with advisory functions have replaced the authorities with legislative functions.