Trends in the development of Russian administrative law: A comparative legal aspect

Abstract

The article substantiates that during the period of development of administrative law as an independent progressive branch of law in the 20th and 21st centuries, two main achievements can be distinguished in world experience. The first is the evolution of the administrative process, administrative procedures, which changed the face of public administration, making it more transparent and democratic, since citizens got the opportunity not only to challenge administrative acts, but also to participate in the procedures for their adoption, protecting their interests even before the approval of the ruling decision. The second key achievement is the approval as categorical imperatives of such principles as legality, equality, proportionality, legal stability (protection of legitimate expectations), prohibition of overformalism. These beginnings are most consistently implemented in the Russian legislation on administrative responsibility, as well as in the legislation on administrative proceedings. In the field of positive public administration, the legislator is still less receptive to these novelties. At the same time, the inertia of the legislator is to a certain extent compensated by the activity of the Russian judicial bodies. The trend towards the perception of the main innovations of administrative law cannot be called into question by special administrative regimes (high preparedness for an emergency, a special military operation, etc.), including for the reason that such regimes, for all their importance, are temporary. Therefore, despite any difficulties, it is necessary to form a regulatory system designed for “usual” normality. At the same time, it is more important than ever to maintain a balance between the goals of rationalizing public administration (protecting public and state security) and protecting the rights of citizens. It is possible to predict further “splitting” of Russian administrative law. On the one hand, administrative legislation will be tightened and politicized, first of all, on the issues of interaction between the domestic administrative system and representatives of unfriendly foreign legal orders (as well as subjects of the Russian legal system, affiliated with them). But for the basis of the model of relations between the Russian public administration and the citizens of the Russian Federation, a predominantly different paradigm should be used — a human rights one.