The Neutrality of the Constitution: a Theoretical Analysis of the Prohibition of state Ideology

The necessity of the prohibition of a state ideology enshrined in the Constitution of the Russian Federation has been called into question for several years now. Until now, the debate over this prohibition has taken place either in the political sphere or in the sphere of constitutional law. In other words, the focus has been on the question of to what extent the establishment of a state ideology would be politically justified or legally valid. This approach to the problem cannot resolve the accumulated contradictions or provide a definitive answer to the question of whether the prohibition is necessary or excessive. In turn, this article proposes a hypothesis whose essence is that the prohibition of state ideology is an expression of such a fundamentally significant feature of the constitution as “neutrality.” An examination of the genesis of the constitutional state, as well as the theoretical and legal conceptualization of such notions as “ideology” and “value”, reveals the existence of irreconcilable contradictions between the idea of a “neutral constitution” and the idea of the “ideological content” of state power. Allowing the state to postulate certain values by establishing an official ideology puts the neutrality of the constitution at risk and creates the conditions for the destruction of the constitutional order.