Uzbekistan's Constitutional Reforms: Current World Trends

H-Tayea

It should be noted that there are currently over 500 active constitutions on the “constitutional map of the world”, of which approximately 200 are constitutions of independent states and more than 300 are subjects of federations.

At the same time, the Code of Laws of the Sumerian king Ur-Nammu (The Code of Ur-Nammu) is considered the world's oldest written constitution - the age of clay tablets exceeds 4 thousand years.

Simultaneously, the Constitution is not a dogma, but rather a plan of action for sustainable development. The possibility to amend or change a constitution is a fundamental feature of all constitutions. It is impossible to create a constitutional text that will always serve society at various stages of historical development.

Thus, the last decade of the twentieth century and the beginning of the twenty-first century will be remembered as a period of rising to a new level of constitutional reforms, profound qualitative shifts in the constitutional worldview, and the constitutional structure of the world community's members. Over the last 30 years, more than 100 countries have successfully implemented constitutional reforms, with 57 adopting new constitutions.

Mexico, New Zealand, Brazil, Switzerland, Austria, Israel, Chile, Colombia, Georgia, and India are the top ten countries in terms of the frequency with which constitutional changes and amendments have been adopted.

Furthermore, the majority of constitutional reforms are implemented as part of the modernization of society and the state, or as part of the prevention and neutralization of the consequences of political, economic, and social crises.

There are almost no original versions of constitutions left in the world today. Even the oldest in the current understanding of the US constitution, 27 fundamental changes were made, Norway - over 200 times (with only about a third of the Basic Law remaining in its original form), and Holland - 24 times (however, in 1983 its text was carefully modernized, affecting almost all positions).

In modern conditions of globalization all over the world there is an intensive search for their own models of constitutional development. At the same time, the Constitution remains one of the key factors in ensuring the political and social stability of the state. The following are the constitutional principles:

firstly, the expansion of fundamental human rights and freedoms (the Constitution of the inpidual);

secondly, securing the protection of collective rights, the rights of society as a whole, that is, the regulation of civil society institutions, the implementation of social partnership and public control (the Constitution of society);

thirdly, the organization of the system of state authorities and administration; representative democracy combined with forms of direct democracy (elections, referendums, popular discussion); separation of powers, including the principle of checks and balances between the legislative and executive branches, as well as the independence of the judiciary; responsibility and accountability of officials (State Constitution).

Constitutional reform is a legal requirement for both current and future sustainable development. It can be an essential tool for promoting good governance by changing constitutional rules to strengthen checks and balances between branches of government, as well as greater accountability, transparency, participation, and predictability. Changes aimed at improving the quality and efficiency of governance contribute to the political system's stability, which benefits the economy by providing a stable environment for investment and development.

The study of constitutional changes around the world reveals a distinguishing feature: the need to adapt the state's Basic Law to the requirements of modernity and its ability to respond to emerging challenges.

The following are the main tendencies in modern constitutional development:

the complexity of constitutional reforms. They cover the political, economic, social, cultural and humanitarian spheres, as well as the interconnections and interdependencies of constitutional reforms and modernization processes;

expanding and strengthening the sphere of constitutional regulation, reforming the mechanism of public administration and changing the form of government;

the development of the constitutional space, the strengthening of legal sovereignty and the definition of the constitutional identity of the state;

strengthening the judicial protection of human rights and freedoms, expanding the powers of constitutional justice, granting citizens the right to direct access to the Constitutional Court;

globalization of constitutional law-making, consolidation of universally recognized principles and norms of international law in the national constitutions of the states of the world;