Trust in the Authorities as an Indicator of Achieving National Development Goals in Russia at the Present Stage: Theory and Legal Regulation

The article proposes for scientific discussion the issue of trust in the authorities on the part of Russian society at the current stage of development of the national state. At the same time, the author made an attempt to identify and demonstrate the connection between the national development goals of Russia, enshrined in a single plan for their achievement for the period up to 2030 and for the perspective up to 2036, and trust in the authorities, as a criterion for assessing the effectiveness of state authorities. The provisions of the normative legal acts of the head of the Russian state and the transformation of the conditions in them that link trust in power with the factor of assessing its effectiveness for society are analyzed. It is emphasized that along with the already conducted studies on citizens’ trust in political power in sociology and political science, attention should be paid to the connection of the phenomenon of trust in law with the categories of “legitimacy” and “legality” of state power. It is emphasized that legitimacy in its broad sense is based on the immanent aspects of trust, manifested through reciprocity, support and coordination of interests between society and the state. The author concludes that national goals as priority areas of state activity and the effectiveness of government bodies depend on the level of satisfaction with the results of this activity on the part of the population. To understand the essential properties of mutual trust between the government and society, attention should be paid to the factors of trust (distrust) formation as a state-legal phenomenon, which are: awareness (information), enlightenment (education level) and a positive attitude towards the lives of the citizens themselves.