POPULAR LAW-MAKING INITIATIVE IN THE SYSTEM OF DEMOCRACY IN THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
This article deals with the problem of determining the place of popular law-making initiative in the system of democracy in the Russian Federation. Capitalized on the analysis of legislation, judicial acts, municipal regulations, as well as doctrinal positions, it is concluded that the people’s law-making initiative has the characteristic that attributed it to the direct grassroots democracy in the presence of certain features of the representative grassroots democracy. On the basis of this conclusion, the people’s lawmaking initiative is delimited from other related institutions of direct grassroots democracy, such as a referendum and the right to petition the government. The result of the comparison is the identification of common and specific characteristics inherent in these constitutional legal institutions.