Constitution

The article examines the constitutional policy of the Soviet state in relation to the autonomous republic of Volga Germans that existed in 1924–1941 as part of the RSFSR, shows this policy as an integral part of the general national-state policy towards national minorities, to whom the Bolshevik government was granted a certain form of statehood. The characteristic of the two constitutions of the Non–Republic of 1926 and 1937 is given – as octroated, i.e. granted from above and therefore contained as much independence as allowed by the center.

The paper focuses on the article-by-article analysis of the Shōtoku Constitution, where information about the political system, social structure, cultural and religious climate in Japan at the turn of the 6th-7th centuries is presented. The author pays attention to borrowing from Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism, which is included in the document.