Journal of Applied Economic Research
ISSN 2712-7435
Social Contract Phenomenon: Evolution of Concepts and Modern Interpretations
Evgeny V. Balatsky 1,2, Natalia A. Ekimova 1
1 The Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation
2 The Central Economics and Mathematics Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (CEMI RAS), Moscow, Russia
Abstract
The aim of the article is to systematically consider the conceptual foundations of the process of formation and maintenance of the social contract, its properties and meaning. The paper uses historical and structural approaches to the study of the phenomenon of social contract in conjunction with their practical application to contemporary events. The result of the study is the authors' substantiation and disclosure of six provisions of the social contract theory. In particular, it provides a systematic explanation of why the understanding of justice underlying the social contract changes significantly over time. The structure of the social contract, which assumes the presence of a constant (obligations of the population) and a variable (obligations of the authorities) part, is substantiated. It is shown that the constant part in the form of the population's loyalty allows the state itself to be preserved over a long historical period, and the variable part in the form of changing requirements to the authorities ensures the evolution of society. Two conditions of the effectiveness of the social contract, when the fulfillment of obligations by both sides of the contract leads to the strengthening of the country and improvement of the situation of the masses, are formulated and formalized: the level of obligations of the supreme power and society should be approximately equal; the luggage of good deeds of power should exceed the luggage of its not-so-good deeds. It is shown that the first condition generates the property of the social contract, when under extraordinary conditions the demand for loyalty from the authorities to the population sharply increases, and the second condition allows us to understand the long-term existence of ineffective regimes of rule such as dictatorship, when despotism in the face of an authoritarian ruler does more good than harm. The main conclusion of the work consists in the substantiation of the fact that at present in the Russian Federation there is a unique situation for the creation of an effective new the social contract, the need for which has been felt for a long time. The presented theoretical provisions can be used in the system of public administration to form the content of the new social contract.
Keywords
exit-voice-loyalty concept; narrow corridor concept; social contract; skin in the game; social contract.
JEL classification
B15, B52References
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Acknowledgements
The article was prepared as part of the state assignment of the Government of the Russian Federation to the Financial University for 2022 on the topic «Socio-economic development in the era of global system transformation».
About Authors
Evgeny Vsevolodovich Balatsky
Doctor of Economics, Professor, Director of the Macroeconomic Research Center of the Department of Economic Theory, The Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, Moscow, Russia (125993, Moscow, Leningradsky Prospect, 49); Leading Staff Scientist, The Central Economics and Mathematics Institute Moscow, Russia (117418, Moscow, Nakhimovsky Prospect, 47); ORCID 0000-0002-3371-2229; e-mail: evbalatsky@inbox.ru.
Natalia Aleksandrovna Ekimova
Candidate of Economic Sciences, Associate Professor, Leading Staff Scientist, Center for Macroeconomic Studies, The Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation Moscow, Russia (125993, Moscow, Leningradsky Prospect, 49); ORCID: 0000-0001-6873-7146; e-mail: n.ekimova@bk.ru
For citation
Balatsky E.V., Ekimova N.A. Social Contract Phenomenon: Evolution of Concepts and Modern Interpretations. Journal of Applied Economic Research, 2022, Vol. 21, No. 3, 604-636. DOI: 10.15826/vestnik.2022.21.3.021.
Article info
Received June 15, 2022; Revised July 19, 2022; Accepted August 12, 2022.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15826/vestnik.2022.21.3.021
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