Alebastrova, I.A. On the Anniversary of Professor B.A. Strashun

Abstract: On April 17, 2014 the renowned Russian constitutional lawyer Boris Aleksandrovich Strashun has celebrated his 85th anniversary. B.A. Strashun was born in the city of Kaunas in the family of white collar professionals. In 1933 the family moved to Moscow. At the very start of the Great Patriotic War father of B.A. Strashun went as a volunteer into the national militia, and he died in autumn of 1941. In 1944 wishing to take part in the protection of the Fatherland B.A. Strashun entered the Artillery Special school, where he got his secondary level education. In the period between 1946 and 1951 he studied at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the USSR. B.A. Strashun started working at the State Publishing House for Law Literature. In 1961 he became a postgraduate student at the Department of State Law Disciplines of the MSIIR of the USSR, and in 1962 he successfully presented his PhD in “Socialist Election Law”. In addition to his lecturing activities, Professor Strashun pays a lot of attention to the scientific work. He is a renowned scientist, who has made a considerable input into the development of the Russian jurisprudence, which was recognized by awarding him with the honorary title of the Merited Scientist of the Russian Federation. He wrote over 300 scientific and educational works. Special place should be given to his books “Election Law of Socialist States” (Moscow, 1963), “Socialism and Democracy. Socialist Representation of the People” (Moscow, 1976), “Constitutional Changes in the Eastern Europe” (Moscow, 1991). Articles and books of B.A. Strashun concern all of the large institutions of constitutional law, it is always both interesting and useful to read them, they present deep thoughts and sometimes unexpected points of view on the problems. His textbook on constitutional (state) law of the foreign states has made a significant impact upon the development of the Russian constitutional legal science and cognition. It is a fundamental work, including General and Specific part, which was written by the group of authors under the leadership of B.A. Strashun, his scientific guidance and it was published in several re-editions.

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