Civil relations. The state is a special form of organization of political power in society, which has sovereignty and manages society on the basis of law. Foundations of political communities, types of political communities in the historical

the name of the unicameral parliament in Hungary and Estonia, as well as the legislative body in a number of republics within the Russian Federation: Altai, Bashkortostan, Mari El, Mordovia.

STATE COUP

violent overthrow or change of the constitutional (state) system or seizure (appropriation) committed in violation of the constitution state power whoever it was.

STATE COUNCIL - 1) the highest advisory body under the Russian emperor in 1810-1906. In 1906, in connection with the creation of the State Duma, it was transformed: half of the members of the T.d. was appointed by the emperor, and half were elected from special class and professional curiae. Eliminated as a result February Revolution 1917; 2) in France, Spain, Belgium, etc. - one of the central public institutions, which is either the highest body of administrative justice, or the body of constitutional control; 3) the official name of the government in Sweden, Norway, Finland, China and a number of other states.

STATE - central institution political system, a special form of organization of political power in society, which has sovereignty, a monopoly on the use of legalized violence and manages society with the help of a special mechanism (apparatus).

The term "G." used in a narrow and broad sense: 1) in a narrow sense - as an institution of domination, as a bearer of state power; G. exists in the form of what opposes "society"; 2) in a broad sense - as a state-formed universality, a union of citizens, as a community; here it denotes a whole encompassing "G." (in the narrow sense) and "society".

Ancient thought did not know the essential separation of public and state life, seeing in the latter only a way to solve the "common affairs" of all citizens. The Middle Ages was limited to a statement of the divine essence of G. The distinction between the actual state-political sphere begins with the New Age. From the XVI-XVII centuries. the term "G." began to designate all state formations, which were previously called "princely domination", "urban community", "republic", etc. The merit of introducing the concept of G. belongs to N. Machiavelli, who used the term "stato" to designate G. (< лат. status положение, статус), которым он объединил такие понятия, как «республика» и «единовластное правление». Сначала термин «Г.» укореняется в Испании (estado) и во Франции (etat), позднее - в Германии (Staat). С этого времени понятия «Г.» и «гражданское общество» стали различаться. К XVIII в. с завершением становления европейского понятия нации-государства оно решительно и повсеместно вытесняет широкое понятие республики как политического сообщества вообще.

Depending on the characteristics of the relationship between power and the individual, the embodiment in the state structure of rationality, the principles of freedom and human rights in political science, the following types of governments are distinguished: traditional (formed mainly spontaneously and having unlimited power over subjects) and constitutional (limiting power by law and based on principle of separation of powers).

The most important constitutive features of a city are territory, population (people), and sovereign power.

Territory as a sign of G. is inseparable, inviolable, exclusive, inalienable. The population as an element of a city is a human community living on the territory of a given city and subject to its authority. State power is sovereign, i.e. has supremacy within the country and independence in relations with other states. Being sovereign, state power, firstly, is universal, extending to the entire population and all public organizations; secondly, it has the prerogative to cancel any manifestations of all other public authorities; thirdly, it has exceptional means of influence that no one else has at its disposal (army, police, prisons, etc.).

The government performs a number of functions that distinguish it from other political institutions. Functions reflect the main directions in the activities of G. to fulfill his mission. G.'s internal functions include economic, social, organizational, legal, political, educational, cultural, and other functions. Among the external functions, one should single out the function of mutually beneficial cooperation in the economic, political, cultural, and other spheres with other states and the function of the country's defense.

STATE ASSOCIATED

A concept used to denote a special form of interstate, and in fact often intrastate relations. As a rule, under G.a. refers to a state that has voluntarily transferred to another state part of its sovereignty (most often the powers to ensure defense and the implementation of foreign policy relations, the powers to organize money circulation). Thus, Puerto Rico is considered to be an associated state with the United States. The Constitution of the Russian Federation (1993) does not provide for the possibility of G.a.

BUFFER STATE - a state located between the territories of two or more larger powers. G.b. is located on the path of a probable military invasion, important transport communications pass through its territory. Such a state allows you to control a geopolitically advantageous region. In the history of only the XX century. many states acted as buffers. For example, during the Franco-German rivalry, which became one of the causes of two world wars, as G.b. were Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg. When the interests of Russia and England clashed in Asia (at the beginning of the 20th century), the role of buffers was played by the Ottoman Empire (Turkey), Iran, Afghanistan, and the Tibetan state.

THE WELFARE STATE is a concept that views modern capitalist society as capable, with the development of science, technology and economics, of providing a relatively high standard of living for all its members. The idea of the state is postulated as a neutral, “above-class” force capable of satisfying the interests of all social strata.

STATE LEGAL - a legal form of organization and activity of public political power and its relationship with individuals as subjects of law.

The idea of G.p. has a long history and occupies an important place in the political teachings of the past. However, the emergence of a holistic concept of G.p. refers to the end of the XVIII - early XIX century, the period of the formation of bourgeois society, when historically progressive political theories carried out a comprehensive criticism of feudal arbitrariness and lawlessness, absolutist and police regimes, affirmed the ideas of humanism, the principles of freedom and equality of all people, non-,) alienation of human rights, resolutely rejected the usurpation of public political power and its irresponsibility to people and society. Naturally, for all the novelty of the ideas and concepts of T.P., developed by G. Grotius, B. Spinoza, J. Locke, S. L. Montesquieu, T. Jefferson and others, they relied on the experience of the past, on the achievements of predecessors, on historically established and tested universal human values and humanistic traditions.

Test on the course "Political systems of modern Russia"
1. What is the function of the policy subsystem

A) adaptation function

B) goal-setting function

B) coordination function

D) integration function
2. A special organization of political power in a community that occupies a certain territory, has its own system of government and has internal and external sovereignty is called

A) the state

B) country

In town

D) confession
3. Nation state refers

A) a religious community united by the unity of faith

B) a community of people on an ethnic basis, capable of serving as the basis or one of the elements of the nation

C) ideology and practice of coexistence of different cultural groups

D) a special organization of political power in the community.
4. The political system that developed after World War II and is characterized by the confrontation between two blocs of states - a socialist one led by the USSR and a capitalist one led by the United States, is called

A) the North Atlantic world order

B) Warsaw world order

B) the Washington world order

D) Yalta world order
5. International agency The United Nations was created to

A) conducting and controlling free international trade

B) solutions to world conflicts

C) pursuing an aggressive information policy

D) prevention of the global economic crisis
6. What was the name of the Organization of Petroleum Producing and Exporting Countries, which was created in the 60s of XX

A) OPEC

B) EU
D) TNK
7. Which of the countries listed below has implemented an “open door” policy?
B) China

B) Japan

D) Germany
8. What is the name of the system for performing the functions of the state, in which a significant part of them is automated and transferred to the Internet

A) email

B) information economy

B) e-government

D) information society
9. Privatization is called

A) cash payment for the right to use the leased property

B) the process of transferring state property to the private sector

B) income from factors of production

D) the process of preparing and executing a series of consecutive transactions between the borrower and its creditors and debtors.

10. Which of the following countries is a presidential republic

A) France

B) Germany;

To China;

D) Russia.

11. How did the conflict between the Congress of People's Deputies and President Boris Yeltsin end after the collapse of the USSR

A) the adoption of a new Constitution and elections to the Russian parliament

B) only by the adoption of a new Constitution

C) only elections to the Russian parliament

D) the introduction of the office of president
12. The lower house of the Russian parliament, consisting of 450 deputies, is

A) the Federal Assembly

B) State Duma

B) Federation Council

D) Congress of People's Deputies
29. A state that has legislated the priority of one of the nations living on its territory is called

A) a mono-ethnic state

B) a multi-ethnic state

B) the nation state

D) empire
13. The issuer is called

A) the mandatory state fee collected by the customs authorities when goods are exported outside the state

B) a type of political and economic activity, the main area of which is the establishment of regulations and financial and legal regulation in the field of economic operations

IN) entity issuing equity securities

D) purposeful action to limit or minimize risk, a method of risk financing, which consists in risk transfer.
14. The feeling of pride in one's nation and the desire for its exaltation is called

B) self-preservation;

B) pride

D) patriotism.
15.Under the ideological dominance is understood

A) a high level of development of communication technologies;

B) involves control over the main objects of property in other countries;

C) when they try to impose one system of views on all countries;

D) involves control over large monetary resources.
16. Democracy in its modern sense has its origin in

A) Ancient Egypt

B) Ancient Greece;

B) Ancient China

D) Ancient India.
17.Which of the below listed countries, there is a constitutional monarchy

A) Russia;

B) Spain;

B) France

18. A state that ensures the priority of such values as freedom, human rights, private property, electivity and accountability to the people of government bodies, in combination with the formation of government bodies exclusively by the people of a given country, is called

A) constitutional democracy;

B) egalitarian democracy;

C) socialist democracy;

D) sovereign democracy.

19. In Lately significant element of the concept state security in Russia becomes

A) sovereign democracy

B) oligarchic democracy;

C) constitutional democracy;

D) socialist democracy.
20. The ability of a country to withstand competition in international economic relations is called

A) national policy;

B) the competitiveness of the country;

C) information model of the economy;

D) political and economic activity of the country.
21. The totality of economic, social, legal and organizational principles of government in the state, which consists of subjects that retain political independence to a greater or lesser extent, is called

A) constitutionalism;

B) unitarism;

B) federalism

D) democracy.
22. Corruption means

A) criminal activity in the sphere of state and municipal government aimed at extracting material benefits from official position and authority;

B) the principle of the organization of society, in which the success, promotion, career, public recognition of a person and citizen directly depend on his personal merits to society;

C) an indicator of the material well-being of people, measured by the amount of their income (for example, GNP per capita) or using indicators of material consumption;

D) close-knit social communities that prepare and make the most important decisions in the field of economy and business.
23. Approval and support of the legitimate government by the people is called

A) sovereignty;

B) legitimacy;

B) law-abiding;

D) meeting.
24. The sphere of human activity, which inevitably has a decisive, imperious influence on all other spheres, is

A) economics;

B) religion;

B) politics;

D) information.
25. A systematically organized worldview that expresses the interests of a certain social group (class, estate, professional corporation, religious community, etc.) and requires the subordination of individual thoughts and actions of each member of such a group to the goals of the struggle for participation in power is called

A) political ideology;

B) ideological struggle;

C) political consciousness;

D) political culture.

26. What is the name of a society where the authorities are trying to forcibly establish the ideals of the dominant ideology in the minds of citizens and in practical life

A) a cultural society;

B) ideocratic society;

C) industrial society;

D) a democratic society.

27. What does the presence of a multi-party system lead to

A) to the political opposition;

B) respect for the rule of law;

C) to political competition;

D) to the freedom to receive and disseminate information.
28. What is the name of the form of organization of the state, in which the legislative power in the country belongs to an elected representative body (parliament) and the head of state is elected by the population (or a special electoral body) for a certain period

A) constitutional

B) republican;

B) federal

D) monarchy.
29. The highest legislative body of the country in a parliamentary republic is

A) Parliament

B) the legislature;

B) thought

D) party.
30. Which of the following countries is a parliamentary republic

A) Germany;

B) USA;

In Russia;

D) France.

Ministry of Education of the Republic of Belarus

educational institution

"Vitebsk State Technological University"

Department of Philosophy

Test

Political power

Completed:

Stud. gr. for A-13 IV course

Kudryavtsev D.V.

Checked:

Art. pr. Grishanov V.A.

Sources and resources of political power

Problems of legitimate power

Literature

1. The essence of political power, its objects, subjects and functions

Power is the ability and ability of a subject to exercise his will, to exert a decisive influence on the activity, behavior of another subject with the help of any means. In other words, power is a volitional relationship between two subjects, in which one of them - the subject of power - makes certain demands on the behavior of the other, and the other - in this case it will be a subject or object of power - obeys the orders of the first.

Power as a relationship between two subjects is the result of actions that produce both sides of this relationship: one - encourages a certain action, the other - carries it out. Any power relationship assumes as an indispensable condition for the expression in some form by the ruling (dominant) subject of his will, addressed to the one over whom he exercises power.

The external expression of the will of the dominant subject can be a law, decree, order, order, directive, prescription, instruction, rule, prohibition, instruction, requirement, wish, etc.

Only after the subject under control understands the content of the demand addressed to him, can we expect him to take any response. However, even at the same time, the one to whom the demand is addressed can always answer it with a refusal. An authoritative attitude also implies the existence of a reason that induces the object of power to carry out the command of the dominant subject. In the above definition of power, this reason is designated by the concept of "means". Only if it is possible for the dominant subject to use the means of subordination, the power relation can become a reality. The means of subordination or, in more common terminology, the means of influence (imperious influence) are those socially significant physical, material, social, psychological and moral factors for the subjects of public relations that the subject of power can use to subordinate to his will the activities of the subject subject (object of power) . Depending on the means of influence used by the subject, power relations can take at least the form of force, coercion, inducement, persuasion, manipulation or authority.

Power in the form of strength means the ability of the subject to achieve the desired result in relations with the subject, either by directly influencing his body and psyche, or by limiting his actions. In coercion, the source of obedience to the command of the dominant subject lies in the threat of negative sanctions if the subject refuses to obey. Motivation as a means of influence is based on the ability of the subject of power to provide the subject with those benefits (values and services) in which he is interested. In persuasion, the source of power influence lies in the arguments that the subject of power uses to subdue his will to the activities of the subject. Manipulation as a means of submission is based on the ability of the subject of power to exercise a hidden influence on the behavior of the subject. The source of subordination in a power relationship in the form of authority is a certain set of characteristics of the subject of power, which the subject cannot but reckon with and therefore he obeys the requirements presented to him.

Power is an indispensable side of human communication; it is due to the need to submit to the unified will of all participants in any community of people in order to ensure its integrity and stability. Power is universal in nature, it permeates all types of human interaction, all spheres of society. A scientific approach to the analysis of the phenomenon of power requires taking into account the multiplicity of its manifestations and clarifying the specific features of its individual types - economic, social, political, spiritual, military, family and others. The most important type of power is political power.

The central problem of politics and political science is power. The concept of "power" is one of the fundamental categories of political science. It provides the key to understanding the whole life of society. Sociologists talk about social power, lawyers - about state power, psychologists - about power over oneself, parents - about family power.

Power has historically emerged as one of the vital functions of human society, ensuring the survival of the human community in the face of a possible external threat and creating guarantees for the existence of individuals within this community. The natural nature of power is manifested in the fact that it arises as a society's need for self-regulation, for maintaining integrity and stability in the presence of different, sometimes opposing interests of people.

Naturally, the historical nature of power is also manifested in its continuity. Power never disappears, it can be inherited, taken away by other interested persons, it can be radically transformed. But any group or individual coming to power cannot but reckon with the overthrown government, with the traditions, consciousness, culture of power relations accumulated in the country. Continuity is also manifested in the active borrowing by countries from each other of the universal experience in the implementation of power relations.

It is clear that power arises under certain conditions. The Polish sociologist Jerzy Wyatr believes that for the existence of power, at least two partners are needed, and these partners can be both individuals and groups of individuals. The condition for the emergence of power must also be the subordination of the one over whom power is exercised to the one who exercises it in accordance with social norms that establish the right to give orders and the duty to obey.

Consequently, power relations are a necessary and indispensable mechanism for regulating the life of society, ensuring and maintaining its unity. This confirms the objective nature of power in human society.

The German sociologist Max Weber defines power as the ability of an actor to realize his own will, even in spite of the resistance of other participants in the action and regardless of what this possibility is based on.

Power is a complex phenomenon that includes various structural elements located in a certain hierarchy (from the highest to the lowest) and interacting with each other. The system of power can be represented as a pyramid, the top of which is those who exercise power, and the bottom - those who obey it.

Power is an expression of the will of society, a class, a group of people and an individual. This confirms the conditionality of power by the relevant interests.

An analysis of political science theories shows that in modern political science there is no single generally accepted understanding of the essence and definition of power. This, however, does not exclude similarities in their interpretation.

In this regard, several concepts of power can be distinguished.

An approach to the consideration of power, which studies political processes in conjunction with social processes and psychological motives of people's behavior, underlies the behaviorist (behavioral concepts of power. The foundations of the behavioral analysis of politics are set out in the work of the founder of this school, the American researcher John B. Watson "Human nature in politics ". Phenomena political life They are explained by the natural properties of a person, his life behavior. Human behavior, including political behavior, is a response to actions environment. Therefore, power is a special type of behavior based on the possibility of changing the behavior of other people.

The relational (role) concept understands power as an interpersonal relationship between the subject and the object of power, assuming the possibility of volitional influence of some individuals and groups on others. This is how the American political scientist Hans Morgenthau and the German sociologist M. Weber define power. In modern Western political literature, the definition of power by G. Morgenthau is widespread, interpreted as the exercise by a person of control over the consciousness and actions of other people. Other representatives of this concept define power as the ability to exercise one's will either through fear, or through the refusal of someone in reward or in the form of punishment. The last two methods of influence (refusal and punishment) are negative sanctions.

The French sociologist Raymond Aron rejects almost all definitions of power known to him, considering them formalized and abstract, not taking into account psychological aspects, not clarifying the exact meaning of such terms as "strength", "power". Because of this, according to R. Aron, an ambiguous understanding of power arises.

Power as a political concept means relationships between people. Here R. Aron agrees with the relationists. At the same time, Aron argues, power denotes hidden opportunities, abilities, forces that manifest themselves under certain circumstances. Therefore, power is the potency owned by a person or group to establish relationships with other people or groups that agree with their desires.

Within the framework of the system concept, the authorities ensure the vital activity of society as a system, instructing each subject to fulfill the obligations imposed on him by the goals of society, and mobilize resources to achieve the goals of the system. (T. Parsons, M. Crozier, T. Clark).

American political scientist Hannah Arendt notes that power is not the answer to the question of who controls whom. Power, X. Arendt believes, is in full accordance with the human ability not only to act, but to act together. Therefore, first of all, it is necessary to study the system of social institutions, those communications through which power is manifested and materialized. This is the essence of the communication (structural and functional) concept of power.

The definition of power given by American sociologists Harold D. Lasswell and A. Kaplan in their book "Power and Society" is as follows: power is participation or the ability to participate in decision-making that regulates the distribution of benefits in conflict situations. This is one of the fundamental provisions of the conflict concept of power.

Close to this concept is the teleological concept, the main position of which was formulated by the English liberal professor, the famous fighter for peace Bertrand Russell: power can be a means to achieve certain goals.

The commonality of all concepts is that power relations are considered in them, first of all, as relations between two partners influencing each other. This makes it difficult to single out the main determinant of power - why, nevertheless, one can impose his will on another, and this other, although he resists, must still fulfill the imposed will.

The Marxist concept of power and the struggle for power is characterized by a clearly defined class approach to the social nature of power. In the Marxist understanding, power is dependent, secondary. This dependence follows from the manifestation of the will of the class. Also in Manifesto communist party"K. Marx and F. Engels determined that "political power in the proper sense of the word is the organized violence of one class over another" (K. Marx. F. Engels Soch., 2nd ed., vol. 4, p.: 447).

All of these concepts, their multivariance testify to the complexity and diversity of politics and power. In this light, one should not sharply oppose class and non-class approaches to political power, the Marxist and non-Marxist understanding of this phenomenon. All of them complement each other to a certain extent and allow you to create a complete and most objective picture. Power as one of the forms of social relations is capable of influencing the content of people's activities and behavior through economic, ideological and legal mechanisms.

Thus, power is an objectively determined social phenomenon, expressed in the ability of a person or group to manage others based on certain needs or interests.

Political power is a volitional relationship between social subjects that make up a politically (i.e. state) organized community, the essence of which is to induce one social subject to behave in the direction they desire by using their authority, social and legal norms, organized violence , economic, ideological, emotional-psychological and other means of influence. Political and power relations arise in response to the need to maintain the integrity of the community and regulate the process of realizing the individual, group and common interests of its constituent people. The phrase political power also owes its origin to the ancient Greek polis and literally means power in the polis community. The modern meaning of the concept of political power reflects the fact that everything is political, i.e. a state-organized community of people, with its fundamental principle, presupposes the presence among its participants of relations of domination and subordination and the necessary attributes associated with them: laws, police, courts, prisons, taxes, etc. In other words, power and politics are inseparable and interdependent. Power, of course, is a means of implementing policy, and political relations are, first of all, the interaction of community members regarding the acquisition of means of power influence, their organization, retention and use. It is power that gives politics that originality, thanks to which it appears as a special kind of social interaction. And that is why political relations can be called political-power relations. They arise in response to the need to maintain the integrity of the political community and regulate the implementation of individual, group and common interests of its constituent people.

Thus, political power is a form of social relations inherent in a politically organized community of people, characterized by the ability of certain social subjects - individuals, social groups and communities - to subordinate to their will the activities of other social subjects with the help of state-legal and other means. Political power is the real ability and possibility of social forces to carry out their will in politics and legal norms, primarily in accordance with their needs and interests.

The functions of political power, i.e. its public purpose, the same as the functions of the state. Political power is, firstly, a tool for maintaining the integrity of the community and, secondly, a means of regulating the process of realization by social subjects of their individual, group and common interests. This is the main function of political power. Its other functions, the list of which may be longer (for example, leadership, management, coordination, organization, mediation, mobilization, control, etc.), are of subordinate importance in relation to these two.

Separate types of power can be distinguished on various grounds adopted for classification:

Other bases for classifying the types of power can be accepted: absolute, personal, family, clan power, etc.

Political science is the study of political power.

Power in society appears in non-political and political forms. In the conditions of the primitive communal system, where there were no classes, and therefore no state, and no politics, public power was not of a political nature. It constituted the power of all members of a given clan, tribe, community.

Non-political forms of power are characterized by the fact that the objects are small social groups and it is exercised directly by the ruling individual without a special intermediary apparatus and mechanism. To not political forms family, school power, power in the production team, etc.

Political power arose in the process of development of society. As property appears and accumulates in the hands of certain groups of people, there is a redistribution of managerial and administrative functions, i.e. change in the nature of power. From the power of the whole society (primitive), it turns into the ruling strata, becomes a kind of property of the emerging classes and, as a result, acquires a political character. In a class society, governance is exercised through political power. Political forms of power are characterized by the fact that their object is large social groups, and power in them is exercised through social institutions. Political power is also a volitional relationship, but a relationship between classes, social groups.

Political power has a number of characteristic features that define it as a relatively independent phenomenon. It has its own laws of development. To be stable, power must take into account the interests of not only the ruling classes, but also the subordinate groups, as well as the interests of the whole society. characteristic features political power are: sovereignty and its supremacy in the system of relations in society, as well as indivisibility, authority and strong-willed character.

Political power is always imperative. The will and interests of the ruling class, groups of people through political power acquire the form of law, certain norms that are binding on the entire population. Disobedience to laws and non-compliance with regulations entails legal, legal punishment up to and including coercion to comply with them.

The most important feature of political power is its close connection with the economy, economic conditionality. Since the most important factor in the economy is property relations, the economic basis of political power is the ownership of the means of production. The right to property also gives the right to power.

At the same time, representing the interests of the economically dominant classes and groups and being conditioned by these interests, political power has an active impact on the economy. F. Engels names three directions of such influence: political power acts in the same direction as the economy - then the development of society goes faster; against economic development - then after a certain period of time political power collapses; the authorities can put barriers to economic development and push it in other directions. As a result, F. Engels emphasizes, in the last two cases, political power can cause the greatest harm to economic development and cause a massive waste of forces and material (Marx K. and Engels F. Soch., ed. 2nd vol. 37. p. 417).

Thus, political power acts as a real ability and possibility of an organized class or social group, as well as individuals reflecting their interests, to carry out their will in politics and legal norms.

First of all, state power belongs to the political forms of power. It is necessary to distinguish between political power and state power. Every state power is political, but not every political power is state power.

IN AND. Lenin, criticizing the Russian populist P. Struve for recognizing coercive power as the main feature of the state, wrote "... coercive power is in every human community, and in the tribal structure, and in the family, but the state was not here. ... The sign of the state is the presence of an isolated a class of persons in whose hands power is concentrated "(Lenin V.I. Paul. sobr. soch. T. 2, p. 439).

State power is power exercised with the help of a special apparatus and having the ability to turn to the means of organized and legally enshrined violence. State power is so inseparable from the state that in scientific literature In practical use, these concepts are often identified. A state can exist for some time without a clearly defined territory, a strict delimitation of borders, without a precisely defined population. But without the power of the state there is no.

The most important features of state power are its public nature and the presence of a certain territorial structure, which is subject to state sovereignty. The state has a monopoly not only on the legal, legal consolidation of power, but also the monopoly right to use violence, using a special apparatus of coercion. Orders of the state power are obligatory for the entire population, foreign citizens and persons without citizenship, and permanently residing in the territory of the state.

State power performs a number of functions in society: it establishes laws, administers justice, manages all aspects of the life of society. The main functions of the government are:

Ensuring domination, that is, the implementation of the will of the ruling group in relation to society, the subordination (full or partial, absolute or relative) of some classes, groups, individuals to others;

Management of the development of society in accordance with the interests of the ruling classes, social groups;

management, i.e. implementation in practice of the main directions of development and the adoption of specific management decisions;

Control involves the implementation of supervision over the implementation of decisions and compliance with the norms and rules of human activity.

The actions of the state authorities to implement their functions are the essence of politics. Thus, state power represents the fullest expression of political power, is political power in its most developed form.

Political power can also be non-state. Such are party and military. There are many examples in history when the army or political parties during the period of national liberation wars controlled large territories without creating state structures on them, exercising power through military or party bodies.

The implementation of power is directly related to the subjects of politics, which are the social bearers of power. When power is won, and a certain subject of politics becomes the subject of power, the latter acts as a means of influencing the dominant social group on other associations of people in this society. The body of such influence is the state. With the help of its organs, the ruling class or the ruling group strengthens its political power, realizes and defends its interests.

Political power, like politics, is inextricably linked with social interests. On the one hand, power itself is a social interest around which political relations arise, form and function. The severity of the struggle for power is due to the fact that the possession of a mechanism for exercising power makes it possible to protect and realize certain socio-economic interests.

On the other hand, social interests have a decisive influence on power. The interests of social groups are always hidden behind the relations of political power. “People have always been and always will be stupid victims of deception and self-deception in politics until they learn to look for the interests of certain classes behind any moral, religious, political, social phrases, statements, promises,” V.I. Lenin (Poln. sobr. soch., vol. 23, p. 47).

Political power, thus, acts as a certain aspect of relations between social groups, it is the realization of the volitional activity of a political subject. Subject-object relations of power are characterized by the fact that the difference between objects and subjects is relative: in some cases, a given political group can act as a subject of power, and in others - as an object.

The subjects of political power are a person, a social group, an organization that implement a policy or are able to relatively independently participate in political life in accordance with their interests. An important feature of a political subject is its ability to influence the position of others and cause significant changes in political life.

The subjects of political power are unequal. The interests of various social groups have either a decisive or indirect influence on the authorities, their role in politics is different. Therefore, among the subjects of political power, it is customary to distinguish between primary and secondary. Primary are characterized by the presence of their own social interests. These are classes, social strata, nations, ethnic and confessional, territorial and demographic groups. Secondary ones reflect the objective interests of the primary ones and are created by them to realize these interests. These include political parties, the state, public organizations and movements, the church.

The interests of those entities that occupy a leading position in economic system society constitute the social basis of power.

It is these social groups, communities, individuals who use, set in motion the forms and means of power, fill them with real content. They are called social bearers of power.

However, the entire history of mankind testifies that the ruling class, the ruling political groups or elites, the professional bureaucracy - the administrative apparatus - political leaders have real political power.

The ruling class personifies the main material force of society. He exercises supreme control over the basic resources of society, production and its results. Its economic dominance is guaranteed by the state through political measures and complemented by ideological dominance that justifies economic dominance as justified, just, and even desirable.

K. Marx and F. Engels wrote in their work "The German Ideology": "The class that represents the dominant material force of society is at the same time its dominant spiritual force.

The dominant thoughts are nothing but the ideal expression of the dominant material relations.

Thus, occupying key positions in the economy, the ruling class also concentrates the main political levers, and then spreads its influence to all spheres. public life. The ruling class is the class that dominates in the economic, social, political and spiritual fields, which determines social development in accordance with its will and fundamental interests. The main instrument of his domination is political power.

The ruling class is not homogeneous. In its structure, there are always internal groups with conflicting, even opposing interests (traditional small and middle strata, groups representing the military-industrial and fuel and energy complexes). Certain moments of social development in the ruling class can be dominated by the interests of certain internal groups: the 1960s were characterized by the Cold War policy, which reflected the interests of the military-industrial complex (MIC). Therefore, the ruling class, in order to exercise power, forms a relatively small group that includes the top of the various strata of this class - an active minority that has access to the instruments of power. Most often it is called the ruling elite, sometimes the ruling or ruling circles. This leading group includes the economic, military, ideological and bureaucratic elite. One of the main elements of this group is the political elite.

Elite is a group of individuals with specific characteristics and professional quality which make them "elected" in one or another sphere of public life, science, production. The political elite is a fairly independent, superior, relatively privileged group (groups), endowed with important psychological, social and political qualities. It is made up of people who occupy leading or dominant positions in society: the country's top political leadership, including the top functionaries who develop political ideology. The political elite expresses the will and fundamental interests of the ruling class and, in accordance with them, directly and systematically participates in the adoption and implementation of decisions related to the use of state power or influence on it. Naturally, the ruling political elite formulates and makes political decisions on behalf of the ruling class in the interests of its dominant part, social stratum or group.

In the system of power, the political elite performs certain functions: it makes decisions on fundamental political issues; determines the goals, guidelines and priorities of the policy; develops a strategy of action; consolidates groups of people through compromises, taking into account the requirements and harmonizing the interests of all political forces that support it; manages the most important political structures and organizations; formulates the main ideas that substantiate and justify its political course.

The ruling elite performs direct leadership functions. Everyday activities for the implementation of the decisions taken, all the necessary for this event, is carried out by a professional bureaucratic and administrative apparatus, bureaucracy. As an integral element of the ruling elite of modern society, it plays the role of an intermediary between the top and bottom of the pyramid of political power. Historical epochs and political systems change, but the constant condition for the functioning of power remains the apparatus of officials, which is entrusted with the responsibility and management of daily affairs.

A bureaucratic vacuum - the absence of an administrative apparatus - is fatal for any political system.

M. Weber emphasized that the bureaucracy embodies the most effective and rational ways of managing organizations. Bureaucracy is not only a management system carried out with the help of a separate apparatus, but also a layer of people associated with this system, competently and qualified, performing managerial functions at a professional level. This phenomenon, which is called the bureaucratization of power, is due not so much to the professional functions of officials as to the social nature of the bureaucracy itself, which strives for independence, isolation of the rest of society, achieving a certain autonomy, and implementing the developed political course without taking into account public interests. In practice, it develops its own interests, while claiming the right to make political decisions.

Substituting the public interests of the state and transforming state goal for the personal goal of an official, in the race for ranks, in career matters, the bureaucracy arrogates to itself the right to dispose of what does not belong to it - power. A well-organized and powerful bureaucracy can impose its will and thereby partially become a political elite. That is why bureaucracy, its place in power and methods of dealing with it have become an important problem in any modern society.

Social carriers of power, i.e. sources of practical political activity for the exercise of power, there can be not only the ruling class, the elite and the bureaucracy, but also individuals expressing the interests of a large social group. Each such person is called a political leader.

The subjects that influence the exercise of power include pressure groups (groups of particular, private interests). Pressure groups are organized associations created by representatives of certain social strata to exert targeted pressure on legislators and officials in order to satisfy their own specific interests.

One can talk about a pressure group only when it and its actions have the ability to systematically influence the authorities. The essential difference between a pressure group and a political party is that the pressure group does not seek to seize power. A pressure group, addressing wishes to a state body or a specific person, simultaneously makes it clear that failure to fulfill its wishes will lead to negative consequences: refusal of support in elections or financial assistance, loss of a position or social position by any influential person. Lobbies can be considered as such groups. Lobbying as a political phenomenon is one of the varieties of pressure groups and acts in the form of various committees, commissions, councils, bureaus created under legislative and governmental organizations. The main task of the lobby is to establish contacts with politicians and officials in order to influence their decisions. Lobbyism is distinguished by behind-the-scenes overorganization, intrusive and persistent striving to achieve certain and not necessarily lofty goals, and adherence to the interests of narrow groups striving for power. The means and methods of lobbying activities are diverse: informing and consulting on political issues, threats and blackmail, corruption, bribery and bribes, gifts and wishes to speak at parliamentary hearings, financing of election campaigns of candidates and much more. Lobbyism originated in the United States and has spread widely in other countries with a traditionally developed system of parliamentarism. Lobbies also exist in the American Congress, the British Parliament, and in the corridors of power in many other countries. Such groups are created not only by representatives of capital, but also by the military, some social movements, and associations of voters. This is one of the attributes of the political life of modern developed countries.

The opposition also has an influence on the exercise of political power, in a broad sense, the opposition is the usual political disagreements and disputes on current issues, all direct and indirect manifestations of public dissatisfaction with the existing regime. It is also believed that the opposition is a minority that opposes its views and the goals of the majority of participants in this political process. At the first stage of the emergence of the opposition, this was how it was: an active minority with its own views acted as the opposition. In a narrow sense, the opposition is seen as a political institution: political parties, organizations and movements that do not participate or are removed from power. The political opposition is understood as an organized group of active individuals united by the awareness of the commonality of their political interests, values and goals, fighting against the dominant subject. The opposition becomes a public political association, which consciously opposes itself to the dominant political force on programmatic policy issues, on the main ideas and goals. The opposition is an organization of political like-minded people - a party, a faction, a movement capable of waging and waging a struggle for a dominant position in power relations. It is a natural consequence of socio-political contradictions and exists in the presence of favorable political conditions for it - at least, the absence of an official ban on its existence.

Traditionally, there are two main types of opposition: non-systemic (destructive) and systemic (constructive). The first group includes those political parties and groups whose action programs completely or partially contradict official political values. Their activities are aimed at weakening and replacing state power. The second group includes parties that recognize the inviolability of the basic political, economic and social principles of society and do not agree with the government only in choosing ways and means to achieve common strategic goals. They operate within the existing political system and do not seek to change its foundations. Giving opposition forces the opportunity to express their point of view, different from the official one, and compete for votes in legislative, regional, judicial authorities, in the media with the ruling party is effective remedy against the emergence of acute social conflicts. The absence of a viable opposition leads to an increase in social tension or generates apathy among the population.

First of all, the opposition is the main channel for expressing social discontent, an important factor in future changes and renewal of society. By criticizing the authorities and the government, it has the opportunity to achieve fundamental concessions and correct official policy. The presence of an influential opposition limits the abuse of power, prevents the violation or attempts to violate the civil, political rights and freedoms of the population. It prevents the government from deviating from the political center and thus maintains social stability. The existence of the opposition testifies to the struggle for power going on in society.

The struggle for power reflects a tense, rather conflicting degree of confrontation and counteraction of the existing social forces of political parties in matters of attitude to power, to understanding its role, tasks and capabilities. It can be carried out on a different scale, as well as using a variety of means, methods, with the involvement of various allies. The struggle for power always ends with the taking of power - the mastery of power with its use for certain purposes: a radical reorganization or the elimination of the old power. The mastery of power can be the result of volitional actions, both peaceful and violent.

History has shown that the progressive development of the political system is possible only in the presence of competing forces. The absence of alternative programs, including the proposed oppositions, reduces the need for timely correction of the program of action adopted by the winning majority.

Over the last two decades of the 20th century, new opposition parties and movements appeared on the political scene: green, environmental, movement for social justice and the like. They are a significant factor in the socio-political life of many countries, they have become a kind of catalyst for the renewal of political activity. These movements place the main emphasis on extra-parliamentary methods of political activity, however, they have, although indirect, indirect, but still, an impact on the exercise of power: their demands and appeals, under certain conditions, can become political in nature.

Thus, political power is not only one of the core concepts of political science, but also the most important factor in political practice. Through its mediation and influence, the integrity of society is established, social relations in various spheres of life are regulated.

Power is a volitional relationship between two subjects, in which one of them - the subject of power - makes certain demands on the behavior of the other, and the other - in this case it will be a subject or object of power - obeys the orders of the first.

There are types of power:

· according to the area of functioning, political and non-political power are distinguished;

· in the main areas of society - economic, state, spiritual, church power;

· by functions - legislative, executive and judicial;

· according to their place in the structure of society and the authorities as a whole, central, regional, local authorities are singled out; republican, regional, etc.

Political science is the study of political power. Power in society appears in non-political and political forms.

Political power acts as a real ability and possibility of an organized class or social group, as well as individuals reflecting their interests, to carry out their will in politics and legal norms.

The political forms of power include state power. Distinguish between political and state power. Every state power is political, but not every political power is state power.

State power is power exercised with the help of a special apparatus and having the ability to turn to the means of organized and legally enshrined violence.

The most important features of state power are its public nature and the presence of a certain territorial structure, which is subject to state sovereignty.

State power performs a number of functions in society: it establishes laws, administers justice, manages all aspects of the life of society.

Political power can also be non-state: party and military.

The objects of political power are: society as a whole, various spheres of its life (economy, social relations, culture, etc.), various social communities (class, national, territorial, confessional, demographic), socio-political formations (parties, organizations), citizens.

Any subject of politics can be a social bearer of power.

The ruling class is the class that dominates in the economic, social, political and spiritual fields, which determines social development in accordance with its will and fundamental interests. The ruling class is not homogeneous.

The ruling class, in order to exercise power, forms a relatively small group that includes the top of various layers of this class - an active minority that has access to the tools of power. Most often it is called the ruling elite, sometimes the ruling or ruling circles.

Elite is a group of individuals who have specific characteristics and professional qualities that make them "elected" in one or another area of public life, science, and production.

The political elite is subdivided into the leading one, which directly owns state power, and the opposition - the counter-elite; to the higher one, which makes decisions that are significant for the whole society, and the middle one, which acts as a kind of barometer of public opinion and includes about five percent of the population.

The social bearers of power can be not only the ruling class, the elite and the bureaucracy, but also individuals expressing the interests of a large social group. Each such person is called a political leader.

Pressure groups are organized associations created by representatives of certain social strata to exert targeted pressure on legislators and officials in order to satisfy their own specific interests.

Political power is not only one of the core concepts of political science, but also the most important factor in political practice. Through its mediation and influence, the integrity of society is established, social relations in various spheres of life are regulated.

2. Sources and resources of political power

political power social legitimate

Sources of power - objective and subjective conditions that cause the heterogeneity of society, social inequality. These include strength, wealth, knowledge, position in society, the presence of an organization. The involved sources of power turn into the foundations of power - a set of significant factors in the life and activities of people used by some of them to subordinate other people to their will. Power resources are the foundations of power used to strengthen it or redistribute power in society. The resources of power are secondary to its foundations.

Power resources are:

giving birth social structures and institutions, ordering the activities of people for the realization of a certain will, the power destroys social equality.

Due to the fact that the resources of power can neither be completely exhausted nor monopolized, the process of redistribution of power in society is never completed. As a means of achieving various kinds of benefits and advantages, power is always a subject of struggle.

The resources of power constitute the potential foundations of power, i.e. the means that can be used ruling group to strengthen their power; power resources can be formed as a result of measures to strengthen power.

Power resources are the foundations of power used to strengthen it or redistribute power in society. The resources of power are secondary to its foundations.

Power resources are:

1.Economic (material) - money, real estate, valuables, etc.

2.Social - sympathy, support for social groups.

.Legal - legal norms that are beneficial for certain political subjects.

.Administrative-power - the powers of officials in state and non-state organizations and institutions.

.Cultural-informational - knowledge and information technologies.

.Additional - socio-psychological characteristics of various social groups, beliefs, language, etc.

The logic of conducting participants in power relations is determined by the principles of power:

1)the principle of maintaining power means that the possession of power is a self-evident value (one does not give up power of one's own free will);

2)the principle of effectiveness requires will and other qualities from the bearer of power (decisiveness, foresight, balance, justice, responsibility, etc.);

)the principle of generality presupposes the involvement of all participants in power relations in the implementation of the will of the ruling subject;

)the principle of secrecy consists in the invisibility of power, in the fact that individuals often do not realize their involvement in domination-subordination relations and their contribution to their reproduction.

The resources of power constitute the potential bases of power.

3. Problems of legitimate power

In political theory great importance has a problem of legitimacy of power. Legitimacy means legitimacy, legitimacy of political domination. The term "legitimacy" originated in France and was originally identified with the term "legality". It was used to refer to legally established power as opposed to forcibly usurped power. Currently, legitimacy means the voluntary recognition by the population of the legitimacy of power. M. Weber included two provisions in the principle of legitimacy: 1) recognition of the power of rulers; 2) the duty of the governed to obey it. The legitimacy of power means people's conviction that the government has the right to make decisions that are mandatory for implementation, the willingness of citizens to follow these decisions. In this case, the authorities have to resort to coercion. Moreover, the population allows the use of force if other means to implement the decisions taken do not have an effect.

M. Weber names three bases of legitimacy. First, the authority of customs, consecrated by centuries of tradition, and habit will submit to authority. This is the traditional domination - of the patriarch, tribal leader, feudal lord or monarch over his subjects. Secondly, the authority of an unusual personal gift - charisma, complete devotion and special trust, which is caused by the presence of the qualities of a leader in any person. Finally, the third type of legitimacy of power is domination on the basis of "legality", on the basis of the belief of participants in political life in the justice of the existing rules for the formation of power, that is, the type of power - rational-legal, which is exercised within the majority modern states. In practice, pure ideal types of legitimacy do not exist. They are intermingled and complement each other. Although the legitimacy of power is not absolute in any regime, it is the more complete, the less social distance between different groups of the population.

The legitimacy of power and politics is indispensable. It extends to power itself, its goals, means and methods. Legitimacy can be neglected to certain limits only by an overly self-confident government (totalitarian, authoritarian), or a temporary government doomed to leave. Power in society must constantly take care of its legitimacy, based on the need to rule with the consent of the people. However, in democratic countries, the ability of government, according to American political scientist Seymour M. Lipset, to create and maintain people's conviction that existing political institutions are the best, is not unlimited. In a socially differentiated society, there are social groups that do not share the political course of the government, do not accept it either in detail or in general. Trust in the government is not unlimited, it is given on credit, if the loan is not paid, the government becomes bankrupt. One of the serious political problems of our time has become the question of the role of information in politics. There are fears that the informatization of society strengthens authoritarian tendencies and even leads to dictatorship. The ability to obtain accurate information about every citizen and manipulate the masses of people is maximized when using computer networks. The ruling circles know everything they need, and everyone else knows nothing.

Trends in information development lead political scientists to assume that the political power acquired by the majority through the concentration of information will not be exercised directly. Rather, this process will go through the strengthening of executive power while reducing the real power of official politicians and elected representatives, that is, through a decrease in the role of representative power. The ruling elite formed in this way may turn out to be a kind of "infocracy". The source of the power of the infocracy will not be any merit to the people or society, but only greater opportunities to use information.

Thus, the emergence of another type of power - information power - becomes possible. The status of information power, its functions depend on the political regime in the country. Information power cannot and should not be the prerogative, the exclusive right of state bodies, but can be represented by individuals, enterprises, domestic and international public associations, and local governments. Measures against monopolization of sources of information, as well as against abuse in the field of information, are established by the legislation of the country.

Legitimacy means legitimacy, legitimacy of political domination. The term "legitimacy" originated in France and was originally identified with the term "legality". It was used to denote legally established power, as opposed to forcibly usurped. Currently, legitimacy means the voluntary recognition by the population of the legitimacy of power.

There are two provisions in the principle of legitimacy: 1) recognition of the power of rulers; 2) the duty of the governed to obey it.

There are three bases of legitimacy. First, the authority of custom. Secondly, the authority of an unusual personal gift. The third type of power legitimacy is domination based on the "legality" of existing rules for the formation of power.

The legitimacy of power and politics is indispensable. It extends to power itself, its goals, means and methods.

The political power acquired by the majority through the concentration of information will not be exercised directly.

Literature

1.Melnik V.A. Political Science: Textbook for High Schools 4th ed., Revised. and additional - Minsk, 2002.

2.Political science: a course of lectures / ed. M.A. Slemnev. - Vitebsk, 2003.

.Political Science: Textbook / ed. S.V. Reshetnikov. Minsk, 2004.

.Reshetnikov S.V. etc. Political science: a course of lectures. Minsk, 2005.

.Kapustin B.G. On the Concept of Political Violence / Political Studies, No. 6, 2003.

.Melnik V.A. Political science: basic concepts and logical schemes: A manual. Minsk, 2003.

.Ekadumova I.I. Political science: answers to examination questions. Minsk, 2007.

Tutoring

Need help learning a topic?

Our experts will advise or provide tutoring services on topics of interest to you.
Submit an application indicating the topic right now to find out about the possibility of obtaining a consultation.

The state differs from the tribal organization in the following features. Firstly, public authority, not coinciding with the entire population, isolated from it. The peculiarity of public power in the state is that it belongs only to the economically dominant class, it is political, class power. This public power is based on special detachments of armed people - initially on the squads of the monarch, and later on - the army, police, prisons and other compulsory institutions; finally, to officials who are specially engaged in managing people, subordinating the latter to the will of the economically dominant class.

Secondly, division of subjects not by consanguinity, but on a territorial basis. Around the fortified castles of monarchs (kings, princes, etc.), under the protection of their walls, the trade and craft population settled, cities grew. Rich hereditary nobility also settled here. It was in the cities that, first of all, people were connected not by consanguinity, but by neighborly relations. Over time, kinship ties are replaced by neighbors and in rural areas.

The reasons and basic patterns of the formation of the state were the same for all the peoples of our planet. However, in different regions of the world, among different peoples, the process of state formation had its own characteristics, sometimes very significant. They were associated with the geographical environment, the specific historical conditions in which certain states were created.

The classical form is the emergence of the state due to the action of only internal factors in the development of a given society, stratification into antagonistic classes. This form can be considered on the example of the Athenian state. Subsequently, the formation of the state went along this path among other peoples, for example, among the Slavs. The emergence of the state among the Athenians is an extremely typical example of the formation of the state in general, because, on the one hand, it occurs in its pure form, without any forcible intervention, external or internal, on the other hand, because in this case a very highly developed form states - democratic republic- arises directly from the tribal system, and, finally, because we are quite well aware of all the essential details of the formation of this state. In Rome, the tribal society turns into a closed aristocracy, surrounded by a numerous, standing outside this society, disenfranchised, but bearing duties of the plebs; the victory of the plebs explodes the old tribal system and erects a state on its ruins, in which both the tribal aristocracy and the plebs soon completely dissolve. Among the German conquerors of the Roman Empire, the state arises as a direct result of the conquest of vast foreign territories, for domination over which the tribal system does not provide any means. Consequently, the process of state formation is often "pushed", accelerated by factors external to a given society, for example, a war with neighboring tribes or already existing states. As a result of the conquest by the Germanic tribes of the vast territories of the slave-owning Roman Empire, the tribal organization of the victors, which was at the stage of military democracy, quickly degenerated into a feudal state.

64. THEORIES OF THE ORIGIN OF THE STATE SPERANSKY MIKHAIL MIKHAILOVICH (1772-1839) - one of the representatives of liberalism at the end of the 18th century. in Russia.

short biography: S. was born in the family of a village priest. After graduating from St. Petersburg, he began to pursue a career in the service. Later, Alexander I S. was appointed secretary of state of the royal court. S. - the author of the plan for the liberal reorganization of Russia.

Main works: "Plan of State Transformation", "Guide to the Knowledge of Laws", "Code of Laws", "Introduction to the Regulations on State Laws".

His views:

1) the origin of the state. The state, according to S., emerged as a social union. It was created for the benefit and safety of people. The people are the source of the strength of the government, since any legitimate government has arisen on the basis of the general will of the people;

2) on the tasks of state reforms. S. considered the best form of government to be a constitutional monarchy. In accordance with this, S. singled out two tasks of state reforms: preparing Russia for the adoption of the Constitution, the elimination of serfdom, since it is impossible to establish a constitutional monarchy with serfdom. The process of liquidation of serfdom is carried out in two stages: liquidation of landed estates, capitalization of land relations. As for the laws, S. argued that they should be adopted with the obligatory participation of the elected State Duma. The totality of all laws constitutes the Constitution;

3) on the system of representative bodies:

a) the lowest link - the volost council, which includes landowners, townspeople with real estate, as well as peasants;

b) the middle link - the district council, whose deputies are elected by the volost council;

c) Council of State, whose members are appointed by the emperor.

The monarch has absolute power;

4) to the Senate. The Senate is the highest judicial body, to which all lower courts are subordinate;

5) into estates.

S. believed that the state should have the following groups of estates:

a) the nobility - the highest class, which includes persons who carry out military or public service;

6) the middle class is made up of merchants, single palaces, philistines, villagers who have real estate;

c) the lower class - the working people who do not have the right to vote (local peasants, artisans, domestic servants and other workers).

65 . BUREAUCRACY AND THE STATE Quite a long period in our social psychology formed a negative attitude towards such a phenomenon as bureaucracy. The state is impossible without bureaucracy in its various formal expressions. The phenomenon of bureaucracy has a dualistic character.

State bodies characterize the formation in the state of a special layer of people, physically cut off from material production, but performing very important managerial functions. This layer is known under different names: officials, bureaucrats, managers, functionaries, nomenklatura, managers, etc. It is an association of professionals engaged in managerial work - this is a special and important profession.

As a rule, this layer of people ensures the performance of the functions of the state, state power, state bodies in the interests of society, the people. But in a certain historical situation, functionaries can take the path of securing their own interests. It is then that situations arise when special bodies (sinecure) are created for certain persons or new functions are sought for these bodies, etc.

The construction of the apparatus of the state should go from functions to the body, and not vice versa, and on a strict legal basis.

Bureaucracy(from fr. bureau- bureau, office and Greek. κράτος - domination, power) - this word means the direction that public administration takes in countries where all affairs are concentrated in the hands of central government authorities acting on prescription (bosses) and through prescription (subordinates); then B. is understood as a class of persons sharply distinguished from the rest of society and consisting of these agents of the central government authority.

The word "bureaucracy" usually conjures up images of paperwork, bad work, useless activity, waiting hours for certificates and forms that have already been cancelled, and attempts to fight the municipality. All this really happens. However, the root cause of all these negative phenomena is not the bureaucracy as such, but shortcomings in the implementation of the rules of work and the goals of the organization, the usual difficulties associated with the size of the organization, the behavior of employees that do not correspond to the rules and objectives of the organization. The concept of rational bureaucracy, originally formulated in the early 1900s by the German sociologist Max Weber, is at least ideally one of the most useful ideas in human history. Weber's theory did not contain descriptions of specific organizations. Weber proposed bureaucracy more as a normative model, an ideal that organizations should strive to achieve. The foreign term "bureaucratic" is quite consistent with the Russian word "prikazny". In Western Europe, the emergence and strengthening of the bourgeoisie went hand in hand with the emergence and strengthening of state power. Along with political centralization, administrative centralization also developed, as a tool and help for the first, it was necessary in order to oust the feudal aristocracy and the old communal authorities from all possible spheres of government and create a special class of officials directly and exclusively subordinate to the influences of the central government. .

With the decline and degeneration of local corporations, unions and estates, new management tasks appeared, the range of activities of state power expanded continuously, until the so-called police state (XVII-XVIII centuries) was formed, in which all aspects of spiritual and material life were equally subject to the guardianship of state power.

In the police state, bureaucracy reaches its highest development, and here its disadvantageous features stand out most clearly - features that it retained in the 19th century in countries whose government is still built on the principles of centralization. With such a character of administration, government bodies are not able to cope with extensive material and usually fall into formalism. Due to their considerable numbers and consciousness of their power, the bureaucracy assumes a special exceptional position: it feels itself to be the guiding center of all social life and forms a special caste outside the people.

In general, three disadvantages of such an administrative system make themselves felt: 1) public affairs that require the intervention of the state are more often conducted badly than well; 2) the ruled must tolerate the interference of power in such relations where there is no need for it; 3) contact with the authorities rarely goes without the personal dignity of the layman suffering. The combination of these three disadvantages distinguishes that direction government controlled, which is usually characterized by one word: bureaucracy. Its focus is usually the organs of police power; but where it has taken root, it extends its influence to all officialdom, to judicial and legislative power.

The conduct of any complex business in life, whether private or public, inevitably requires the observance of certain forms. With the expansion of the tasks pursued, these forms are multiplied and the "polywriting" of modern management is an inevitable companion of the development and complication of state life. But precisely in this does the Bureaucracy differ from a healthy system of administration, that in the latter the form is observed for the sake of the cause and, in case of need, is sacrificed to the cause, while the Bureaucracy observes the form for its own sake and sacrifices to it the essence of the matter.

Subordinate organs of power see their task not as usefully acting within the limits indicated by it, but as fulfilling the requirements imposed from above, that is, unsubscribing, fulfilling a number of prescribed formalities and thereby satisfying the higher authorities. Administrative activity is reduced to writing; instead of actual execution, they are content with writing paper. And as execution on paper never encounters obstacles, the supreme government becomes accustomed to making demands on its local bodies that are practically impossible to fulfill. The result is a complete discord between paper and reality.

Second distinguishing feature B. lies in the alienation of the bureaucracy from the rest of the population, in its caste exclusivity. The state takes its employees from all classes, in the same college it unites the sons of noble families, urban inhabitants and peasants; but they all feel equally alienated from all classes. The consciousness of the common good is alien to them, they do not share the vital tasks of any of the estates or classes separately.

The bureaucrat is a bad member of the community; communal ties seem humiliating to him, submission to communal authorities is unbearable for him. He has no fellow citizens at all, because he does not feel himself to be either a member of the community or a citizen of the state. These manifestations of the caste spirit of bureaucracy, from which only exceptional natures can completely renounce, profoundly and disastrously influence the relations of the masses of the population with the state.

When the mass sees the representative of the state only in the face of the bureaucracy, which shuns it and places itself on some unattainable height, when any contact with the organs of the state threatens only with trouble and embarrassment, then the state itself becomes something alien or even hostile to the masses. The consciousness of belonging to the state, the consciousness that one is a living part of a great organism, the ability and desire for self-sacrifice, in a word, the feeling of statehood is weakening. But, meanwhile, it is precisely this feeling that makes the state strong in days of peace and stable in times of danger.

The existence of B. is not associated with a particular form of government; it is possible in republican and monarchical states, in unlimited and constitutional monarchies. It is extremely difficult to overcome B.. New institutions, as soon as they are introduced into life under the cover of B., are immediately imbued with its spirit. Even constitutional guarantees are powerless here, because no constitutional assembly itself governs, cannot even give stable direction to governance. In France, bureaucratic forms of government and administrative centralization even gained new strength precisely after the revolutions that created new order of things.

Peter I is often considered to be the ancestor of B. in Russia, and Count Speransky is considered to be its approver and final organizer. In fact, the mere “gathering of the Russian land” necessarily required centralization in administration, and centralization gives rise to bureaucracy. Only the historical foundations of Russian bureaucracy are different from those of Western European bureaucracies.

Thus, the criticism of bureaucracy draws attention both to the effectiveness of the system and to the issues of its compatibility with the honor and dignity of the individual.

The only area where bureaucracy is indispensable is the application of laws in court. It is in jurisprudence that the form is really more important than the content, and high efficiency (within the time frame of the consideration of cases, for example) has an extremely low priority compared to, for example, the principle of legality.

66. CHURCH AND STATE The Church as an institutional representative of a certain religion plays a significant role in the political system of any society, including in multi-confessional Russia. Political parties and official authorities are trying to use its moral and ideological influence, although, according to Art. 14 of the Constitution "The Russian Federation is a secular state" and "religious associations are separated from the state." Religious denominations - various directions of Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and Judaism - their church institutions are actively involved in politics, especially regional and national-ethnic. WITH The oldest and best known system of relations between church and state is that of the established or state church. The state recognizes one religion out of all as a true religion and exclusively supports and patronizes one church, to the prejudice of all other churches and confessions. This prejudice means in general that all other churches are not recognized as true or completely true; but in practice it is expressed in a different form, with many different shades, and sometimes it comes from non-recognition and alienation to persecution. In any case, under the operation of this system, foreign confessions are subject to some more or less significant reduction in honor, in right and advantage, in comparison with their own, with the dominant confession. The state cannot be the representative of the material interests of society alone; in such a case, it would deprive itself of spiritual strength and renounce spiritual unity with the people. The state is all the stronger and the more important, the more clearly spiritual representation is indicated in it. Only under this condition is the feeling of legality, respect for the law and trust in state power maintained and strengthened in the environment of the people and in civil life. Neither the beginning of the integrity of the state or state good, the state benefit, nor even the beginning of the moral - in themselves are insufficient to establish a strong connection between the people and state power; and the moral principle is unstable, fragile, deprived of the main root, when it renounces the religious sanction. This central, collective force will undoubtedly be deprived of such a state, which, in the name of an impartial attitude towards all beliefs, itself renounces all beliefs - of any kind. The trust of the masses of the people in the rulers is based on faith, that is, not only on the common faith of the people with the government, but also on the simple confidence that the government has faith and acts according to faith. Therefore, even pagans and Mohammedans have more confidence and respect for such a government, which stands on the firm foundations of belief - whatever it may be, than for a government that does not recognize its own faith and treats all beliefs equally.
This is the undeniable advantage of this system. But as the centuries passed, the circumstances under which this system got its start changed, and new circumstances arose in which its operation became more difficult than before. At the time when the first foundations of European civilization and politics were laid, the Christian state was firmly integrated and inseparable union with the one Christian Church. Then, in the midst of the Christian Church itself, the original unity was broken up into diverse opinions and differences of faith, each of which began to appropriate for itself the meaning of the one true teaching and the one true church. Thus, the state had to have before it several diverse doctrines, among which the mass of the people was distributed over time. With the violation of unity and integrity in belief, a time may come when the dominant church, supported by the state, turns out to be the church of an insignificant minority, and itself weakens in sympathy or completely loses the sympathy of the masses of the people. Then important difficulties may arise in determining the relationship between the state with its church and the churches to which the majority of the people belong.

67. TYPOLOGY OF THE STATEABOUT noting the plurality of points of view associated with the consideration of the problem of the typology of the state, two main scientific approach: formational and civilizational. The essence of the first (formational) is the understanding of the state as a system of interrelated economic (basic) relations that predetermine the formation of a superstructure that unites social, political, ideological relations. Proponents of this approach consider the state as a specific social body that arises and dies off at a certain stage in the development of society - a socio-economic formation. The activities of the state in this case are predominantly coercive in nature and involve forceful methods of resolving class contradictions that arise as a result of the conflict between advanced productive forces and backward production relations. The main historical types of states, in accordance with the formational approach, are states of the exploitative type (slave-owning, feudal, bourgeois), characterized by the presence of private property (slaves, land, means of production, surplus capital) and irreconcilable (antagonistic) contradictions between the class of oppressors and the class of the oppressed.

Atypical for the formational approach is the socialist state, which arises as a result of the victory of the proletariat over the bourgeoisie and marks the beginning of the transition from the bourgeois to the communist (stateless) socio-economic formation.

In a socialist state

private ownership of the means of production is being replaced by state (public) ownership;

· Contradictions comes state property (nationwide);

Contradictions between classes cease to be antagonistic;

· there is a tendency to merge the main classes (workers, peasants, stratum of labor intelligentsia) and form a single socially homogeneous community - the Soviet people; the state continues to be a “power mechanism of coercion”, however, the direction of coercive measures is changing - from an apparatus of enslavement by one class of another, the state is turning into an instrument for ensuring and protecting the interests of the community in the international arena, guaranteeing law and order in the state itself.

Noting the positive features of this approach, one should first of all note its specificity, which makes it possible to quite clearly identify the main historical types of state-legal systems. As a negative side: to point out the dogmatism (“Marx's teaching is omnipotent because it is true”) and the one-sidedness of formational typology, which takes only economic criteria as the basis for typology.

Civilization approach to the typology of states. The civilizational approach is focused on understanding the features of state development through all forms of human activity: labor, political, social, religious - in all the variety of social relations. Moreover, within the framework of this approach, the type of state is determined not so much by objective-material, as by ideal-spiritual, cultural factors. In particular, A. J. Toynbee writes that the cultural element is the soul, blood, lymph, the essence of civilization; in comparison with it, economic and even more so, political criteria seem artificial, insignificant, ordinary creations of nature and the driving forces of civilization.

Toynbee formulates the concept of civilization as a relatively closed and local state of society, characterized by a commonality of religious, psychological, cultural, geographical and other features, two of which remain unchanged: religion and forms of its organization, as well as the degree of remoteness from the place where this society originally arose . Of the numerous "first civilizations", Toynbee believes, only those have survived that were able to consistently master the living environment and develop the spiritual principle in all types of human activity (Egyptian, Chinese, Iranian, Syrian, Mexican, Western, Far Eastern, Orthodox, Arab, etc. .) Each civilization gives a stable community to all the states that exist within its framework.

The civilizational approach makes it possible to distinguish not only the confrontation between classes and social groups, but also the sphere of their interaction on the basis of universal human interests. Civilization forms such norms of community life, which, for all their differences, are important for all social and cultural groups, thereby keeping them within the framework of a single whole. At the same time, the plurality of evaluation criteria used by various authors to analyze a particular civilizational form, predetermines the uncertainty of this approach, complicates its practical application in the research process.

68. STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS OF THE METHOD OF LEGAL REGULATION The need for various legal means operating in the MNR is determined by the different nature of the movement of the subjects' interests towards values, the presence of numerous obstacles that stand in the way. It is the ambiguity of the problem of satisfying interests as a meaningful moment that implies the diversity of their legal design and provision.

The following main stages and elements of the process of legal regulation can be distinguished: 1) the rule of law; 2) a legal fact or actual composition with such a decisive indicator as an organizational and executive law enforcement act; 3) legal relationship; 4) acts of realization of rights and obligations; 5) protective law enforcement act (optional element).

At the first stage, a rule of conduct is formulated, which is aimed at satisfying certain interests that are in the sphere of law and require their fair ordering. Here, not only the range of interests and, accordingly, legal relations are determined, within the framework of which their implementation will be lawful, but obstacles to this process are predicted, as well as possible legal means to overcome them. This stage is reflected in such an element of the MPR as the rule of law.

At the second stage, the definition of special conditions takes place, upon the occurrence of which the action of general programs is “turned on” and which allow you to move from general rules to more detailed ones. The element denoting this stage is a legal fact, which is used as a "trigger" for the movement of specific interests through the legal "channel".

However, this often requires a whole system of legal facts (the actual composition), where one of them must necessarily be decisive. It is just such a fact that the subject sometimes lacks for the further movement of interest in a value that can satisfy him. The absence of such a decisive legal fact acts as an obstacle, which must be considered from two points of view: from a substantive (social, material) and from a formal (legal) one. From the point of view of content, the dissatisfaction of the subject's own interests, as well as public interests, will be an obstacle. In the formally legal sense, the obstacle is expressed in the absence of a decisive legal fact. Moreover, this obstacle is overcome only at the level of law enforcement activity as a result of the adoption of an appropriate act of law enforcement.

The act of applying the law is the main element of the totality of legal facts, without which a specific rule of law cannot be implemented. It is always decisive, because it is required at the very “last moment”, when other elements of the actual composition are already available. So, in order to exercise the right to enter a university (as part of a more general right to receive higher education), an act of application (the order of the rector on enrollment in students) is necessary when the applicant submitted to admission committee the required documents, passed the entrance exams and passed through the competition, i.е. when there are already three other legal facts. The act of application consolidates them into a single legal structure, gives them credibility and entails the emergence of personal subjective rights and obligations, thereby overcoming obstacles and creating an opportunity to satisfy the interests of citizens.

This is only a function of special competent authorities, subjects of management, and not citizens who do not have the authority to apply the rules of law, do not act as law enforcers, and therefore, in this situation, they will not be able to satisfy their interests on their own. Only a law enforcement agency will be able to ensure the implementation of a legal norm, adopt an act that will become a mediating link between the norm and the result of its action, will form the foundation for a new series of legal and social consequences, and hence for further development public relations, clothed in a legal form.

This type of law enforcement is called operational-executive, because it is based on positive regulation and is designed to develop social connections. It is in it that the right-stimulating factors are embodied to the greatest extent, which is typical for acts on encouragement, assignment of personal titles, on the establishment of payments, benefits, on registration of marriage, on employment, etc.

Consequently, the second stage of the process of legal regulation is reflected in such an element of the MPR as a legal fact or actual composition, where the function of a decisive legal fact is performed by an operational-executive law enforcement act.

The third stage is the establishment of a specific legal connection with a very definite division of subjects into authorized and obligated. In other words, here it is revealed which of the parties has an interest and the corresponding subjective right designed to satisfy it, and which is obliged either not to interfere with this satisfaction (prohibition), or to implement certain active actions in the interests of the authorized person (duty). In any case, we are talking about a legal relationship that arises on the basis of the rule of law and in the presence of legal facts and where an abstract program is transformed into a specific rule of conduct for the relevant subjects. It is concretized to the extent to which the interests of the parties are individualized, or rather, the main interest of the authorized person, which acts as a criterion for the distribution of rights and obligations between opposing persons in a legal relationship. This stage is embodied precisely in such an element of the MPR as a legal relationship.

The fourth stage is the realization of subjective rights and legal obligations, in which legal regulation achieves its goals - it allows the subject's interest to be satisfied. Acts of realization of subjective rights and obligations are the main means by which rights and obligations are put into practice - they are carried out in the behavior of specific subjects. These acts can be expressed in three forms: observance, execution and use.

69. RELIGION AND LAW As you know, the church is separated from the state, but not separated from society, with which it is connected by a common spiritual, moral, cultural life. It has a powerful impact on the consciousness and behavior of people, acts as an important stabilizing factor.

All representatives of religious organizations, associations, confessions, communities that exist on the territory of the Russian Federation are guided in the exercise of their constitutional right to freedom of conscience both by their intra-religious rules and beliefs, and by the current legislation of the Russian Federation. The last main legal act regulating the activities of all types of religions in Russia (Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism) is the Federal Law “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations” of September 26, 1997.

This law also defines the relationship between the church and the official authorities, it intertwines legal and some religious norms. The Church respects the law, the laws, the order established in the state, and the state guarantees the possibility of free religious activity that does not contradict the principles of public morality and humanism. Freedom of religion is an essential feature of a civil democratic society. The revival of religious life, respect for the feelings of believers, the restoration of churches that were destroyed in their time are an undoubted spiritual achievement of the new Russia.

The close relationship between law and religion is evidenced by the fact that many Christian commandments, such as “Thou shalt not kill,” “Thou shalt not steal,” “Thou shalt not bear false witness” and others, are enshrined in law and are considered by it as crimes. In Muslim countries, law in general is based largely on religious dogmas (norms of adat, Sharia), for the violation of which very severe penalties are provided. Sharia is Islamic (Muslim) law, and adat is a system of customs and traditions.

Religious norms as obligatory rules for the behavior of believers are contained in such well-known historical monuments as the Old Testament, New Testament, the Koran, the Talmud, the Sunnah, the Holy Books of Buddhism, as well as in the current decisions of various councils, colleges, meetings of the clergy, and the governing structures of the church hierarchy. Russian Orthodox Church known canon law.

The Constitution of the Russian Federation states: “The Russian Federation is a secular state. No religion can be established as a state or obligatory one. 2. Religious associations are separated from the state and are equal before the law” (Article 14). “Everyone is guaranteed freedom of conscience, freedom of religion, including the right to profess individually or jointly with others any religion or not to profess any, to freely choose, have and disseminate religious and other beliefs and act in accordance with them” (Article 28).

“A citizen of the Russian Federation in the event that his convictions or religion are contrary to the performance of military service, as well as in other established federal law cases, has the right to replace it with an alternative civilian service” (paragraph 3 of article 59). However, the law on alternative civilian service has not yet been adopted.

It should be noted that recently freedom of religion has increasingly come into conflict with the ideas of human rights, humanism, morality and other generally recognized values. There are about 10,000 so-called non-traditional religious associations in Russia today. Not all of them perform really socially useful or at least harmless functions. There are separate cult groups, sects, whose activity is far from harmless and, in fact, is socially destructive, morally condemnable, especially foreign ones, including Catholic and Protestant ones. Some religious communities are headquartered in the US, Canada, and other countries.

70 SOVERINET OF THE STATE IN THE CONDITIONS OF GLOBALIZATION STATE SOVEREIGNTY The Russian Federation is a sovereign state.

G. S. RF - independence and freedom of the multinational people of Russia in determining their political, economic, social and cultural development, as well as territorial integrity, the supremacy of the Russian Federation and its independence in relations with other states.

The sovereignty of the Russian Federation is "a natural and necessary condition for the existence of the statehood of Russia, which has a centuries-old history, culture and established traditions" (Declaration on State Sovereignty of the RSFSR of June 12, 1990).

A prerequisite for the formation of a sovereign state is the nation as a historical and cultural association of people.

The multinational people of Russia are the only bearer of sovereignty and the source of state power.

The G. S. of the Russian Federation is made up of the rights of individual peoples of Russia, therefore the Russian Federation guarantees the right of each people of Russia to self-determination within the territory of the Russian Federation in their chosen national-state and national-cultural forms, the preservation of national culture and history, the free development and use mother tongue etc.

Structural elements of G. S. RF:

1) autonomy and independence of the state power of the Russian Federation;

2) the supremacy of state power throughout the territory of the Russian Federation, including its individual subjects;

3) territorial integrity of the Russian Federation.

The autonomy and independence of the state power of the Russian Federation assumes that the Russian Federation independently determines the directions of both domestic and foreign policy.

To ensure the right of the state

Political relations are hierarchized levels of power of various subjects and the interaction of social subjects in order to achieve the intended political goals.

Politics (from politike - Greek public affairs) is a field of activity associated with the coordination of the interests of individual social groups, with the aim of conquest, organization and use of state power and management of social processes on behalf of society and in order to maintain the viability of the civil collective.

Politics finds its expression in political ideas, theories, in the activities of the state, political parties, organizations, associations and other political institutions. In their totality, the dominant political ideas, theories, the state, political parties, organizations, methods and methods of their activity form the political system of society. The concept of "political system" allows you to most fully and consistently reveal the socio-political nature of society, the political relations existing in it, the norms and principles of the organization of power.

The structure of the political system includes:

1. An institutional subsystem consisting of various socio-political institutions and organizations, the most important of which is the state.
2. Normative (regulatory), acting in the form of political and legal norms and other means of regulating the relationship between the subjects of the political system.
3. Political and ideological, including the totality political ideas, theories and views on the basis of which various socio-political institutions are formed and function as elements of the political system of society.
4. A functional subsystem containing the main forms and directions in the activity of the political system, ways and means of its influence on public life, which finds expression in political relations and the political regime.

The main institution of the political system is the state. There are a number of theories explaining the nature and ways of the emergence of the state.

From the point of view of the theory of “natural origin”, the state is the result of the mutual influence of natural and social factors, it expresses the principles of the natural distribution of power (in the forms of domination and subordination) in nature (the teachings of the state of Plato and Aristotle).

"The theory of the social contract" considers the state the result of the agreement of all members of society. Coercive power, the only manager of which is the state, is carried out in the general interest, since it maintains order and legality (T. Hobbes, D. Locke, J.-J. Rousseau).

From the point of view of Marxism, the state appeared as a result of the social division of the pile, the emergence of private property, classes and exploitation. Because of this, it is an instrument of oppression in the hands of the ruling class (K. Marx, F. Engels, V. I. Lenin).

"The theory of conquest (conquest)" considers the state the result of the subjugation of some peoples by others and the need to organize the management of the conquered territories (L. Gumplovich, Guizot, Thierry).

"Patriarchal": The state is a form of extended patriarchal (from lat. father) power, traditional for primitive forms of social organization, acting as a spokesman for common interests and serving the common good. (R. Filmer).

In the framework of the modern approach to the problem, the state is understood as the main institution of the political system, organizing, directing and controlling joint activities and relations of people, social groups and associations.

As the main political institution, the state differs from other institutions of society in its features and functions.

Common to the state are the following features:

The territory delineated by the boundaries of the state;
- sovereignty, i.e. supreme power within the boundaries of a certain territory, which is embodied in its right to legislate;
- the presence of specialized management institutions, the apparatus of the state;
- law and order - the state acts within the framework of the rules of law established by it and is limited by it;
- Citizenship - a legal union of persons residing in state-controlled territory;
- monopoly - the illegal use of force on behalf of society and in its interests;
- the right to levy taxes and fees from the population.

With a modern interpretation of the essence of the state, its main functions can be distinguished:

Protection of the existing social order,
- maintenance of stability and order in society,
- prevention of socially dangerous conflicts,
- regulation of the economy, conducting domestic and foreign policy,
- protecting the interests of the state in the international arena,
- implementation of ideological activity, defense of the country.

The most important functions of modern state regulation of the national economy of the Republic of Belarus can be:

Implementation of the functions of the owner of state property, operating on the market on an equal footing with subjects of other forms of ownership;
- formation of a mechanism for economic regulation, support and stimulation of the work of innovative business entities;
- development and implementation of a market structural policy using effective monetary, tax and price instruments;
- ensuring economic and social protection of the population.

To carry out these functions, the state forms a complex of special bodies and institutions that make up the structure of the state, which includes the following institutions of state power:

1. Representative bodies of state power. They are divided into the highest representative bodies with legislative power (parliament), and local authorities and self-government, formed in accordance with the administrative-territorial division of the country.
2. Government bodies. There are higher (government), central (ministries, departments) and local executive bodies.
3. Bodies of the judiciary and the prosecutor's office exercise justice in resolving conflicts, restoring violated rights, and punishing violators of the law.
4. Army, public order and state security agencies.

To understand the essence of the state as a ruling institution, it is important to find out such aspects of it as forms of state power, forms of government and political regime. The form of government is understood as the organization of the supreme power and the order of its formation. On this basis, two main forms are traditionally distinguished: the monarchy and the republic.

Monarchy is a form of government in which power is concentrated in the hands of a single head of state. The following features are inherent in the monarchy: lifelong rule, hereditary order of succession of supreme power, absence of the principle of legal responsibility of the monarch.

A republic is a form of government in which the highest bodies of state power are either elected by the people or formed by nationwide representative institutions. The following elements are inherent in republican government: the collegial nature of the supreme authorities, the elective nature of the main positions, the term of which is limited in time, the delegative nature of the powers of the government, which are handed over to it and taken back in the process of popular will, the legal responsibility of the head of state.

Forms of national-territorial structure characterize internal organization state, the existing formula for the correlation of the powers of the central and regional bodies authorities:

A unitary state is a state that is subdivided into administrative-territorial units that have the same status.
- Federation is a union state formations independent within the limits of powers distributed between them and the federal center.
- Confederation - a union of sovereign states, which is created for the implementation of specific common goals.

A political regime is understood as a set of institutional, cultural and sociological elements that contribute to the formation of the political power of a given country in a certain period of time. The classification of political regimes is carried out according to the following criteria: the nature of political leadership, the mechanism of power formation, the role of political parties, the relationship between legislative and executive power, the role and importance of non-governmental organizations and structures, the role of ideology in society, the position of the media, the role and importance of bodies suppression, a type of political behavior.

The typology of X. Linz includes three types of political regimes: totalitarian, authoritarian, democratic:

Totalitarianism is a political regime that exercises control over all spheres of society.

Its features are:

Rigid pyramid of central power;
- centralized economy;
- the desire to achieve uniformity in all phenomena of life;
- domination of one party, one ideology;
- monopoly on the media, etc.

All this leads to the restriction of the rights and freedoms of the individual, to the planting of a true subject, with elements of slavery, the psychology of the masses.

Authoritarianism is a political regime established by a form of power that is concentrated in the hands of a single ruler or ruling group and reduces the role of other, primarily representative institutions. The characteristic features of authoritarian regimes are: the concentration of power in the hands of one person or a ruling group, the unlimited nature of power that goes far beyond the limits defined for them by law, the lack of control of power by citizens, the prevention of political opposition and competition by the authorities, the restriction of political rights and freedoms of citizens, the use of repression to fight opponents of the regime.

A democratic regime is a political regime in which the people are the source of power. Democracy is characterized by the following features: the presence of mechanisms that ensure the practical implementation of the principle of popular sovereignty, the absence of restrictions on the participation of all categories of citizens in the political process, the periodic election of the main authorities, public control over the adoption of major political decisions, the absolute priority of legal methods of implementation and change of power, ideological pluralism and competition of opinions.

The consequence of the establishment of a democratic political regime should be a civil society. This is a society with developed economic, cultural, legal and political relations between its members, independent of the state, but interacting and cooperating with it. economic basis civil society is the separation of economic and political relations, the presence of an economically free person, private and collective types of property. The political and legal basis is political pluralism. The spiritual basis is the highest moral values that exist in a given society at a given stage of development. The main element of civil society is a person perceived as a person striving for self-affirmation and self-realization, which is possible only if the individual's rights to individual freedom in the political and economic spheres are ensured.

The idea of civil society arose in the middle of the 17th century. For the first time the term "civil society" was used by G. Leibniz. A significant contribution to the development of the problems of civil society was made by T. Hobbes, J. Locke, S. Montesquieu, who relied on the ideas of natural law and the social contract. The condition for the emergence of civil society is the emergence of economic independence for all citizens of society on the basis of private property.

Structure of civil society:

Socio-political organizations and movements (environmental, anti-war, human rights, etc.);
- unions of entrepreneurs, consumer associations, charitable foundations; - scientific and cultural organizations, sports societies;
- municipal communes, voter associations, political clubs;
- independent mass media;
- church;
- family.

Functions of civil society:

Satisfaction of material, spiritual needs of a person;
- protection of private spheres of people's lives;
- containment of political power from absolute domination;
- stabilization of social relations and processes.

The concept of the rule of law has deep historical and theoretical roots. It was developed by D. Locke, S. Montesquieu, T. Jefferson, and justifies the legal equality of all citizens, the priority of human rights over the laws of the state, non-interference of the state in the affairs of civil society.

The rule of law is a state in which the rule of law is ensured, the sovereignty of the people as a source of power, and the subordination of the state to society are affirmed. It clearly defines the mutual obligations of the rulers and the ruled, the prerogatives of political power and individual rights. Such self-restraint of the state is possible only with the separation of powers into legislative, executive and judicial, which excludes the possibility of its monopolization in the hands of one person or body.

The rule of law implies:

1. Rule of law.
2. Universality of law, bound by the law of the state itself and its bodies.
3. Mutual responsibility of the state and the individual.
4. State protection of legally acquired property and savings of citizens.
5. Separation of powers.
6. The inviolability of the freedom of the individual, his rights, honor and dignity.

A constitutional state is a state limited in its actions by law. Law is a system of generally binding norms (rules of conduct) established and protected by the state, designed to regulate and streamline social relations. A close connection with the state distinguishes law from other normative systems, in particular from morality and ethics.

In modern society, there are various branches of law that regulate activities and relationships in all major areas of public life. It establishes ownership relationships. Acts as a regulator of measures and forms of distribution of labor and its products among members of society (civil and labor law), regulates the organization and activities state machinery(constitutional and administrative law), determines measures to combat encroachment on existing social relations and the procedure for resolving conflicts in society (criminal law), affects the forms interpersonal relationships(family law). It has a special role and specificity international law. It is created by agreements between states and regulates relations between them.

Acting as an important and necessary instrument of state administration, as a form of implementation of state policy, law is at the same time the most important indicator of the position of the individual in society and the state. The rights, freedoms and duties of a person and a citizen, constituting legal status personality is the most important component law characterizing the development and democracy of the entire legal system.