The Future of Welfarism and Future Welfare State in the Context of Digitalization

Introduction: the presence of norms concerning the welfare state and the state’s welfarism in the Constitution of the Russian Federation and in the constitutional legislation of foreign countries leads to a conclusion about the ideal trend of state policy in this area. The development of various information technologies in the modern world certainly affects and will further have an impact on all areas of government policy. Therefore, it is important to understand how this novelty will influence the concept of a welfare state and whether such a state needs such innovations at all. Purpose: based on the study into the evolution of the welfare state, various approaches to defining its concept, scope, and content, the paper attempts to answer the question of whether the modern welfare state needs digitalization in its various manifestations. Methods: the methodology of the research is based on the authors’ scientific constitutional-legal theories of the welfare state and the state’s welfarism, the administrative-legal theory of public administration deviance studies, as well as on the basic scientific concept of forecasting the future in law and a complex scalable multimodal array of tools used in predictive legal analytics. Results: the researched scientific sources, materials, and regulations suggest that successful development and existence of a modern welfare state is impossible without digitalization. The task of any modern welfare state is to minimize digital risks to state welfarism. Conclusions: the research undertaken shows the impossibility of abandoning the social function of the state and its constitutional basis – the welfare state. The task of digitalization in relation to a welfare state lies in proposing digital solutions that reduce the risks associated with the distribution of various benefits, with abuse of budgetary funds intended for social purposes, their misuse, as well as make the state’s social policy reasonable and rational.