Referendum w Rosji, na Białorusi i Ukrainie. Próba analizy porównawczej

Referendum as a direct democracy institution is taken into consideration in the constitutions of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. It was still during Soviet period when these countries began applying referendum (referendum of 17th March 1991). Ukraine and Russia performed their independent referenda while the Soviet system was dying. During the initial stage of the transformation using the referendum seemed to be a revolution. While the process of democratization in these three countries was collapsing the political role of referendum changed – it appeared to be a democratic way of legitimizing presidents’ anti-democratic actions. Boris Yeltsin, Alyaksandr Lukashenka and Leonid Kuchma used the lack of social understanding for the essence of democracy and free market for their own purposes. The aim of this analysis is to make an attempt to compare the referendum institution in political system solutions in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus as well as define the role of referendum in political systems of the countries being discussed. The authors will try to answer the questions concerning the significance and purpose of the referenda held in the countries being discussed.