ABSTRACT
How power is distributed between the executive and legislative branches significantly influences the capacity of a new constitutional order to guard against autocracy. The list of East European presidents that have strived for constitutional reforms, which would considerably increase their own spheres of power, is quite extensive. Even with the exception of outright authoritarian leaders like Lukashenko in Belarus and his counterparts in Central Asia, there are many examples. For instance, Iliescu in Romania, Kuchma and Yanukovych in Ukraine, Lucinschi and Snegur in Moldova, Wałęsa in Poland, and Yeltsin in Russia did all at some point during their incumbency challenge the constitutional order in their countries.
