At the heart of civil control lies the idea of the admissibility and necessity of checking by citizens and their associations of the activities of state-power institutions for the proper performance by them of the tasks assigned to them. This idea itself is in conflict with the essence of power itself, its nature is not inclined to tolerate any kind of control over itself in any of its forms and origins. Thus, we have a dilemma: uncontrolled power is arbitrariness; controlled power is no longer power, at least in the sense that it is perceived by its holders. There is no place for civil control in such logic. Any power is hierarchical and built on the principle that the superior controls the inferior. And from this perspective, it is almost impossible to fit civil control into this pyramid.

The modern constitutional doctrine is based on the principles of national sovereignty, separation of powers and subsidiarity. The principle of popular sovereignty, i. e. the recognition of the people as the main carrier and source of power, contains certain theoretical grounds for the existence of civil control within the institutions of direct democracy. Direct control of citizens is manifested when voters, by their expression of will, essentially assess the activities of their representatives in elected institutions and give legitimacy to the new composition of the representative corps. The concept of a free mandate excludes the subsequent control of citizens over the activities of their elected representatives. Within the framework of the principles of separation of powers and subsidiarity, there are systems of power and management horizontally and vertically. The normal functioning of this structure of the power organization is supported by the institutions of constitutional, parliamentary and administrative control. Civil control in the form of direct verification actions in the proposed model of a power organization acts as a foreign and even disorganizing element, which does not exclude the initiation of a control procedure by citizens in bodies endowed with control powers.