Changes Of Legislative Procedures In The Contemporary Russian Parliament: Development Trends And Justification Strategies

Political science suggests considering the legislative process from a wide range of perspectives, including the mutual control of government branches and factors of interaction between legislators. The rules governing such processes often act as conditions rather than consequences of political conflict. At the same time, regulations, as the formal framework for these rules, are both the object and goal of political activity, while justification strategies serve as a means of measuring this activity.The author of the thesis focuses on identifying sustainable strategies for justifying changes to the rules of procedure among deputies and senators under the constantly evolving conditions of the development of the modern Russian Parliament. Based on transcripts of plenary sessions of the chambers of the Federal Assembly from 2011 to 2021 dedicated to the discussion of regulations (a total of 113 transcripts), as well as data from the legislative information system (COED), the author analyses the justification strategies employed by members of parliament in the chambers. As a result of this analysis, the author draws the following conclusions: 1. Discussions on changing regulations have a political dimension. Both the act of discussing resolutions and the use of opposition strategies indicate that parliamentarians perceive amendments as a redistribution of power in future political scenarios.2. The configuration of justifications strategies is consistent. It relies on the relationship between formal procedures and informal practices, drawing on the historical experience of parliament, values, and prior agreements. The extent to which these are appealed to is important in describing the characteristics of the political process. The nature of amendments and the composition of the chamber resulted in a reduction in opposition in the State Duma of the seventh convocation, while the expert status of senators did not lead to their involvement in disputes over amendments to regulations and was limited to harmonizing legislation. Analyzing justification strategies allows us to determine the political agency of actors within parliament and their relationships. This approach can be utilized for comparative studies on the development of parliamentary systems and their comparison with other comparative typologies of states and political systems.