Global Challenges for Social Support Systems: Essence, Component Features and Characteristics

The article is devoted to issues of global challenges for social support systems. The relevance of the study is determined by the growing role of global challenges in the socio-economic life of states. The purpose of the article is to analyze the specifics of global challenges characterizing modern social support systems, including the social support system of Ukraine. The scientific novelty of the article lies in the identification of global challenges for social support systems. The basic methods of scientific research used in the article are analysis and synthesis (to identify the specifics of global challenges for social support systems), graphic method (to demonstrate the connection between the global basis of the emergence of global challenges and challenges for the social support system). It has been established that the main global challenges for social support systems are the following: the functional failure of the social support system; growing needs of recipients of social services, benefits, and payments; the transformation of a socially oriented state; the reduction in abilities of states to maintain social support systems. The functional failure of the social support system means its state in which the formal presence of agencies and institutions designed to guarantee the provision of social services, benefits and payments to the population is not accompanied by their effective work, that is, the system of social support does not solve the current social problems of society and becomes a burden for state budget. The most acute challenge for the social support system for Ukraine under war conditions is the growth in the needs of recipients of social services, benefits, and payments, which can occur in two ways: 1) an increase in the needs of existing recipients of social benefits, services, and payments on account of changes in the socio-economic, political, ecological, security situation in the region or objective physiological changes in certain groups of recipients (aging, deterioration of well-being); 2) an increase in the number (or share) of people applying for social support due to changes in the socio-economic, political, environmental, security situation in the region or subjective life circumstances. Closely related to this challenge is another challenge, namely the reduction in states’ ability to maintain social support systems. Particular attention is paid to the causes and potential consequences of the transformation of the concept of a socially oriented state. In addition, the author researched the global basis of challenges for social support systems, which combines the key factors of their occurrence.