Issues of Virtualization of Political Life and a Virtual State in Modern Legal Studies

Virtualization of power, politics, administration, and the state is a popular terminology that characterizes changes in the socio-political environment in the era of the 4th Industrial Revolution. Information and computer technologies and Internet technologies, digitalization of the society, of the state and law create a special reality, namely: a virtual space where «digital twins» are located and operate, and digital processes reflecting reality and parallel to it take place. New theories related to virtualization of political life can be contrasted with traditional approaches to the political and legal system. The paper examines and developes ideas that counter-balance, to a certain extent, the sovereign national statehood by virtue of either its actual absorption by international political or corporate structures or dissolution among other subjects of the political system (due to the increasing opportunities for civil society institutions to influence the political decision-making process). There is also the opposite danger of turning into an authoritarian state. In any case, modern constitutional values are being questioned. In legal studies, there is no rush to agree with such conclusions. The ideas of networkization and virtualization of relations of power are quite compatible with the classical political and legal doctrines of state sovereignty, democracy and human rights, the rule of law and separation of powers. In turn, these doctrines themselves must undergo certain transformation taking into account new challenges of the digital society.

1. Anohin Yu. V., Baranov M. P. Doktrinal’naya harakteristika ideologicheskoj funkcii gosudarstva v virtual’nom prostranstve // Zhurnal rossijskogo prava. — 2019. — № 8. — S. 14–24.

2. Bachilo I. L. Gosudarstvo i pravo XXI v. Real’noe i virtual’noe. — M. : Institut gosudarstva i prava RAN, 2012. — 280 s.

3. Vasil’eva L. N., Grigor’ev A. V. Cifrovizaciya obshchestva i perspektivy konstitucionnogo razvitiya // Zhurnal rossijskogo prava. — 2020. — № 10. — S. 40–58.

4. Vinogradova E. V., Zaharcev S. I. Suverenitet: gosudarstvo — lichnost’ — gosudarstvo: rossijskaya model’ // Pravovaya politika i pravovaya zhizn’. — 2021. — № 1. — S. 156–163.

5. Gigauri D. I., Kaminskij S. I. Virtual’naya identichnost’ kak instrument konstruirovaniya obraza rossijskogo gosudarstva v usloviyah cifrovogo obshchestva // Russkaya politologiya. — 2020. — № 1 (14). — S. 153–160.

6. Goloskokov L. V. O pravovoj doktrine virtual’nogo setevogo innovacionnogo gosudarstva // Publichnoe i chastnoe pravo. — 2014. — № 1 (22). — S. 20–36.

7. Isaev I. A. Simulyakry: virtual’naya real’nost’ zakona // Vestnik Universiteta imeni O.Е. Кутафafina (MGYuA). — 2021. — № 5. — S. 31–40.

8. Karnaushenko L. V. Elektronnoe gosudarstvo v Rossii: problemy i perspektivy // Yurist-Pravoved. — 2018. — № 1 (84). — S. 17–21.

9. Koval’chuk S. K. Virtual’naya kommunikaciya v politicheskom prostranstve sovremennyh gosudarstv // Vestnik Moskovskogo universiteta. Seriya 27, Globalistika i geopolitika. — 2019. — № 2. — S. 58–68.

10. Kutovoj D. A., Andreeva O. A. Formirovanie tekhnokraticheskoj funkcii gosudarstva v processe programmirovaniya obshchestvennyh otnoshenij v virtual’nom prostranstve: teoretiko-pravovoj aspekt // Akademicheskaya mysl’. — 2019. — № 1 (7). — S. 11–16.

11. Lazarev V. V. Gosudarstvo v svete memologii // Zhurnal rossijskogo prava. — 2020. — № 3. — S. 5–18.

12. Leushkin R. V. Virtualizaciya form vlasti v sisteme social’no-kommunikativnogo prostranstva // Vestnik Ul’yanovskogo gosudarstvennogo tekhnicheskogo universiteta. — 2018. — № 1 (84). — S. 24–26.

13. Maknat K. Virtual’noe gosudarstvo Kanady // Politicheskaya nauka. — 2007. — № 4. — S. 78–96.

14. Mamedov V. R. Vliyanie tekhnologicheskogo progressa na transformaciyu sushchnosti gosudarstvennogo suvereniteta // Innovacii i investicii. — 2021. — № 8. — S. 21–25.

15. Mihajlova O. V. Sovremennoe gosudarstvennoe upravlenie v usloviyah virtualizacii i rasshireniya setevogo landshafta publichnoj politiki // Vestnik Moskovskogo universiteta. Seriya 21, Upravlenie (gosudarstvo i obshchestvo). — 2019. — № 4. — S. 23–39.

16. Pozharskij D. V. Iskusstvennyj intellekt i chelovecheskij razum v gosudarstvenno-pravovoj real’nosti // Trudy Akademii upravleniya MVD Rossii. — 2020. — № 1 (53). — S. 8–15.

17. Sayapin V. O. Tekhnologii virtualizacii politicheskoj vlasti v informacionnuyu epohu // Istoricheskie, filosofskie, politicheskie i yuridicheskie nauki, kul’turologiya i iskusstvovedenie. Voprosy teorii i praktiki. — 2015. — № 8-1 (58). — S. 159–166.

18. Talapina E. V. Gosudarstvennyj suverenitet v informacionnom prostranstve: novye zadachi prava // Gosudarstvo i pravo. — 2018. — № 5. — S. 60–67.

19. Teleshina N. N. Virtual’noe prostranstvo kak ob«ekt kontrol’noj deyatel’nosti gosudarstva : dis. … kand. yurid. nauk. — Vladimir, 2011.

20. Chaldaeva L. A., Kilyachkov A. A., Yakorev A. A. K voprosu o formirovanii social’nyh funkcij gosudarstva v virtual’nom prostranstve Rossii // Vlast’. — 2021. — T. 29. — № 2. — S. 29–39.

21. Chernogor N. N., Habrieva T. Ya. Pravo v usloviyah cifrovoj real’nosti // Zhurnal rossijskogo prava. — 2018. — № 1. — S. 85–102.