In his review of the book of a Russian politician and political scientist Viktor Sheynis “Power and the Law: Politics and the Constitution in Russia in the 20th-21st Centuries,” the author analyzes the patterns of political development in Russia, the ratio between the positive constitutional law and political practice, especially the interaction of political institutions formed with the adoption of the 1993 Constitution. The author examines the reasons for the discrepancy of the practice with the spirit of the Constitution, highlighting a monopoly in the management of relations of power and property as a key parameter of the ruling class striving to preserve a role of the main subject of the political process. The author highlights the emergence and development of Russia’s civic culture as a key variable of political development.