Deviant State: Domestic and Foreign Practices

The task is to explore the optimal, healthy statehood for society and all its social strata. The focus lies on people’s standard of living, the protection of citizens’ rights and freedoms, and the prospects for their development. The author notes that legal science studies the so-called failures of the state - such as ineffective policies and shortcomings of individual reforms and programs - only weakly and in fragments. Aristotle, in his book Politics , referred to these phenomena as deviations in social development and introduced the concept of the “deviant state” into scientific discourse. Following Aristotle, the idea is advanced that the optimal state is one in which the population - all its components - is relatively satisfied with their lives and conditions. Otherwise, the state should be considered weak, effective, or even entirely dysfunctional. According to Aristotle, deviation is the greatest harm to society. State power should strive for virtue and happiness, which requires significant effort from both government structures and society itself. The “eternal” ailments of society include an unproductive economy, low birth rates, alcoholism, inadequate pension provision, insufficient housing, and poor environmental conditions. State measures to address these problems are often insufficient - frequently due to their cost - or ineffective because of the absence of proper programs, poor organization, and the lack of interest among officials and bureaucrats. Efforts to create a healthy and effective state are often hindered by distortions in the separation of government powers, a crisis of parliamentarism, loss of judicial independence, international conflicts, and the absence of quality local self-government. In federal states, nominal federalism also fails to improve the population’s quality of life or address deviations in the state mechanism. The suppression of religious denominations by the state and its structures is another significant factor in assessing the level of state deviation. The result of ineffective state decisions in confronting society’s “eternal” ailments, along with internal breakdowns within the state mechanism, is the emergence of an alienated state and destorshions in social and political systems, accompanied by the flourishing of corruption. The alienated state is depicted as a social and political entity that exists by itself rather than for society. However, it is recognized that the state is a product of society, created for society and its structures, and is wholly accountable to it. A deviant state contributes to the growing alienation of the population from state and municipal authorities. Social, political, and legal alienation pose the greatest danger to society’s prospects. The problem of rational state organization, as addressed by Hegel, is raised. A rational structure of statehood forms a political mindset whereby the “rational” becomes the inner, subjective content of individuals. The state should be founded upon such a society.