The present study attempts to critically analyse the most famous stereotypes about the federal structure that have developed in the world doctrine. From the standpoint of critical realism we analyse the liberal stereotypes characteristic of the world doctrine of federalism due to the influence of US ideological imperialism, which include the identification of federalism and democratic regime, attributing to federalism the goal of protecting human rights and freedoms, as well as the identification of federalism with maximum decentralisation of power. The problems identified in this way go considerably beyond the issues of federal structure and can be found in other elements of the matter of Russian constitutional law.

The present study attempts to critically analyse the most famous stereotypes about the federal structure that have developed in the world doctrine. From the standpoint of critical realism we analyse the Soviet stereotypes based on the idealisation of social engineering and reproduced in modern Russian doctrine, including the doctrinal division of federations into ‘constitutional’ and ‘treaty’ federations, the opposition of territorial federations to national federations, and the classic understanding of the right of peoples to selfdetermination. The problems identified in this way go considerably beyond the issues of federal structure and can be found in other elements of the matter of Russian constitutional law.

The present study attempts to critically analyse the most famous stereotypes about the federal structure that have developed in the world doctrine. From the perspective of critical realism, the opportunistic stereotypes associated with cognitive distortions under the influence of the current political agenda are analysed, which include the identification of centralisation with the uncontrollability of central state bodies, ideas about the optimal number of subjects, as well as the normalisation of arbitrary interventions of the higher level of public authority. The problems identified in this way go considerably beyond the issues of federal structure and can be found in other elements of the matter of Russian constitutional law.