The Institutionalization of Law Education in Russia

Abstract

The article brings to light the process of institutionalization of law education in Russia, taking place due to the modernization of the institution of the Commissioner for human rights. The evolution of the latter is shown to be a process of updating and expanding the list of its functions. In modern constitutional law, the main function of the institution is human rights law, while the security functions have also expanded markedly. These are such functions as law education, legislative activity, parliamentary control, and public control. The institutionalization of law education is demonstrated to cover both the federal and regional levels of public authorities and to be expressed in updating the ideology, forms, methods and recipients of law education, and in forming practices adequate to the information society and the service state. The indicators of this process are also changes in the organizational and information support for the activities of human rights commissioners in the Russian Federation. Traditional and new technologies of legal education used by human rights commissioners are distinguished, forms of involvement of human rights commissioners in the system of professional legal education are defined. Law education of civic society activists is highlighted as an independent aspect in the institutionalization of law education, which contributes to citizen mobilization and public capacity of civic society, brings together domestic and European practices of law education. The features of law education for civil activists are allocated, the first experience of citizen education is analyzed, the offers for the regional concepts of law education reflecting these features are formulated.