EXTREMIST CRIMES: POLITICAL AND LEGAL CONTEXT

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to assess the formation of political and legal mechanisms to counter extremism. Based on using the historical-comparative approach, the authors proceed from the idea that history of establishment of legal responsibility for extremism allows not only to identify the most effective forms and methods of countering this type of illegal activity, but also to explicate the essential characteristics of this phenomenon, the need to combat which is noted on all stages of history, as well as deeper understanding of extremism nature itself. The article analyzes the history of Russian legislation from the end of the 15th century to the beginning of the 21st century. The subject of the research is the historical and political practices of the emergence and evolution of the legal category of “extremism”, their changes in the context of the development of Russian statehood. As a result of the study, the authors formulate a provision that, by its generic characteristics, extremism as a political and legal phenomenon is a special kind of political crime, covering a group of crimes against state power. A distinctive feature of this group is the orientation of extremism against the ideological foundations of the system of legitimization of state power.