Annotation

The article is devoted to the study of the place and role of direct democracy in the system of foundations of the constitutional system of the Russian Federation. The author conducts a critical analysis of the functional and institutional approaches to understanding the constitutional system that have developed in the Russian doctrine and comes to the conclusion that none of them reveals its starting point. The position is substantiated, according to which such a primary basis is popular sovereignty, implemented in the three-stage logic of the establishment of constitutional law and order: from the definition by the people of the type and form of the state to “ruling on behalf of the people” within the framework of established constitutional principles. In this context, the concept of a “strong” democracy and the idea of a symbiosis of the people and the state (a “symphonic personality”) derived from it, which is gaining popularity in modern constitutional and legal science, are studied in detail. The author identifies an internal logical contradiction of this concept, related to the lack of an objective criterion that makes it possible to distinguish state stimulation of democratic institutions from substitution of the people's will. It is concluded that it is necessary to search for alternative models of the formation and expression of popular will, excluding administrative dominance in relations between the state and the people.