The article investigates preconditions of formation and features of legislative regulation of the system of institutes of civil participation in implementation of powers of the bodies of public (state) power in Russia. From 2003 until 2013, the list of such institutes significantly expanded at the expense of legalization of advisory referenda, advisory public councils, public examinations of regulations, public initiatives and other institutes. In modern constitutional law science, they are considered as different from institutes of direct democracy. Unlike the standard point of view, evolution of institutes of civil participation is analyzed in a context of the competition of two traditions of the organization of public (state) power: republican and democratic. It is proved that domination of democratic tradition of understanding of law, developed in Russia at the turn of XIX–XX centuries, still remains, and has noticeable deforming impact on the contents and practice of application of norms of the Russian constitutional law. Therefore, the institutes of civil participation, which was developed in Russia at the turn of 2010–2020th, characterize the Russian state not as the republic, but as new version of delegative democracy. They are formed as alternative to representative bodies of power, and provide legitimization of regulations as well as decisions and actions of executive authorities, which independent of these bodies.
Keywords: participation of citizens in implementation of public (state) power, republic, delegative democracy, advisory public council, public examination, public initiative.