The phenomenon of the Web State

Ivanov Dmitrii Nikolaevich PhD in History Associate professor of the Department of International Business at Saint Petersburg State University of Aerospace Instrumentation (SUAI) 190000, Russia, Saint Petersburg, Bolshaya Morskaya str., 67, office 23-13 ivanov_d_n@inbox.ru

The phenomenon of the web state.

      The virtual world is becoming more and more real today: online games and online broadcasts are being replaced by virtual worlds ^[1] on the Internet with the virtual presence of real people through their avatars: for example, virtual concerts are held when real musicians acting in virtual space perform in front of the audience whose avatars are present on a virtual concert venue through their avatars created by digitizing artists using motion capture technology (Mirkin E. The Offspring group gives a concert right in the World of Tanks // 3D news: website. URL: https://3dnews.ru/994279/gruppa-the-offspring-dayot-kontsert-pryamo-v-world-of-tanks (accessed 10.08.2022)).

And although the technology of creating virtual worlds is only developing, the first online community calling itself the state has already appeared. The question is how correct it is to talk about such an education using the concept of "state" in its classical sense.

The topic is all the more interesting because there are practically no works on this problem in the scientific literature. As a rule, an "electronic state" ^[2,3], a "cyber state" ^[4] or a "digital state" ^[5,6] refers to the presence of state authorities of a real state (for example, the Russian Federation)  on the Internet: from the websites of ministries and departments to online services (such as paperwork). There is no established terminology in this area. For example, the concept of a "virtual state" can denote communities exclusively within the Internet ^[7], projects of para-state entities on artificial islands in the world ocean ^[8] and even the presence of authorities of an internationally recognized state on the Internet ^{[9, 10]}, that is, actually denoting e-government ^[11]. Therefore, it makes sense to determine the terms that will be used in the future.

The term "state" has no universally recognized definition, however, from the legal acts of the Russian Federation we can conclude that the distinctive features of the state are the presence of the people (Constitution of the Russian Federation (adopted by popular vote 12.12.1993), Article 3), territory (Constitution of the Russian Federation (adopted by popular vote 12.12.1993), Article 4), power (state executive, legislative, judicial) and independence in international affairs (Resolution on the case of Checking the Constitutionality of Certain Provisions of the Constitution of the Altai Republic and the Federal Law "On General Principles of the Organization of Legislative (Representative) and Executive Bodies of State Power of the Subjects of the Russian Federation": resolution of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation dated 07.06.2000 No. 10-P). However, another problem immediately arises: what prevents anyone who wants to proclaim their state within, say, a suburban area? How, by the way, did the owners of two farms in Estonia, who proclaimed the restoration of the Estonian Soviet Republic on their land (Two Estonian farms "declared themselves a Soviet Republic" [Electronic resource] // RIA Novosti: [website]. ^[2008]. URL: https://ria.ru/20080903/150926569.html (accessed: 06.08.2022)). It makes sense to take two countries as a starting point: the Vatican and South Sudan.

The Vatican is the smallest of the officially recognized states and by area (0.44 km2) (Geografia: [Electronic resource] // Stato della citta del Vaticano: website. URL: https://www.vaticanstate.va/it/stato-governo/note - generali/geografia.html (Accessed: 07.08.2022)), and by population (slightly more than 600 people) (Popolazione: [Electronic resource] // Stato della citta del Vaticano. URL: https://www.vaticanstate.va/it/stato-governo/note-generali/popolazione.html (Date of appeal: 07.08.2022)), while the Vatican, maintaining diplomatic relations with more than 170 states, is not a member of the UN, although, for example, is a member of the IAEA (Partecipzioni ad organizzazioni internazion: [Electronic resource] // Stato della citta del Vaticano. URL: https://www.vaticanstate.va/it/stato-governo/rapporti-internazionali/partecipazioni-ad-organizzazioni-internazionali.html (Accessed: 07.08.2022)).

South Sudan is the most unrecognized of the recognized States: being a Member of the United Nations, 60 States do not recognize it ^{[12, p. 57]}. China has not escaped the fate of being "partially recognized" either: Being the third country in the world by area, the second country in the world by population, the first economy in the world and being a permanent member of the UN Security Council, the PRC is not recognized by 16 UN member states ^{[12, p. 57]}. 

Accordingly, it can be concluded that in order to be considered a state in international practice, the size of the controlled territory and the population do not matter: only the fact of their presence is important. The situation is more complicated with international recognition. Using the example of the Vatican, it can be concluded that membership in the UN is not an obligatory element of international recognition. Equally, on the example of South Sudan and China, recognition by ALL UN member states is not necessary. Consequently, it is possible to accept as a necessary and sufficient condition for the international recognition of a State the fact of its recognition by at least one UN member state.

Thus, the state below will be called an entity that has a real territory, the population living on this territory, authorities conducting an independent international policy and recognized by at least one UN member state.

An unrecognized state will mean a territory that has declared itself an independent state, has signs of a state (real territory, population, authorities, economy, armed forces, law enforcement forces, etc.), but has not received international recognition (like the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic, recognized only by other unrecognized states – the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, the Republic of South Ossetia and the Republic of Abkhazia).

A microstate will mean a territory (of natural or artificial origin) proclaimed by someone  as a sovereign state that does not have all the signs of a state and has not received international recognition of its status as a state (as an example, the Sovereign State of Eterna Lucina in Australia (Jorg C. Steiner. Der Sovereign  State of Aeterna Lucina // Institut fur Auszeichnungswesen und Uniformkunde [Wien-Frankfurt-Znaim, 1997]. URL: http://ordenskunde.info/dtAL.htm (accessed 10.08.2022)) or the most famous microstate is the Principality of Sealand (Principality of Sealand // Principality of Sealand: website. URL: https://sealandgov.org/ru / (accessed 10.08.2022)). The concept of a "virtual state" often used for such entities ^[13] does not seem quite appropriate, since such entities occupy a very real territory, although their sovereignty over this territory may not be indisputable.

A virtual state is understood as an association that does not have a territory in the physical world or its analogue in the digital world (the site is not considered a "territory"), over which it would proclaim its sovereignty, and exists only as a group of like-minded people (a good example is the New Slovenian Art (NSK State // NSK State: site. URL: https://nskstate.com / (accessed 10.08.2022)) and, in part, Asgardia (Asgardia: The space nation // Asgardia: The space nation: website. URL: https://asgardia.space/ru / (accessed 10.08.2022)). That is, such a state actually exists mainly in the fantasy of the "citizens" of such a state. With some reservation, virtual states can include countries that have disappeared from the political map of the world, whose sovereignty over the territory that they no longer control is formally recognized as part of the world community (as in the case of the Russian Empire and the Russian Republic after 1917 (Gusterin P. Diplomatic missions and consular offices of the Russian Empire on the territory of modern Arab States // History of the State: website. URL: https://statehistory.ru/5800/Diplomaticheskie-predstavitelstva-i-konsulskie-uchrezhdeniya--Rossiyskoy-imperii-na-territorii-sovremennykh-arabskikh-gosudarstv / (accessed 10.08.2022)).

A web state means a community of people existing in the digital world that has actually formed a full-fledged model of a real state on the Internet (there are analogues of "real" authorities, law enforcement agencies), but having sovereignty or claiming sovereignty only over the "territory" within the digital world. An important criterion distinguishing a web state from a virtual or microstate can be considered the presence of such an entity of an operating economy that allows not only to produce certain goods and/or services within the web state, but also to convert funds earned in the digital world into banknotes of the physical world (fully falls under this definition now only the Decenturion (The State of the Decenturion // Decenturion.su : website. URL: https://decenturion.su/info/decenturion (accessed 10.08.2022)). The Decenturion Manifesto defines it as the first blockchain state (the Decenturion Manifesto // Decenturion.su : website. URL: https://decenturion.su/info/decenturion-manifest (accessed 10.08.2022)), however, the blockchain (which follows from the same manifesto) is a mechanism for the implementation of economics, management and communication. Therefore, the term web state seems to be broader and more universal, which is also suitable for structures on the Internet similar to the Decenturion, but built on other (perhaps not yet existing) principles of recording and confirming information about transactions.

Let's ask the following question: is it possible to consider a web state as a real state? At the moment, it definitely does not: it has no territory in the real world (unlike unrecognized states and even microstates), and even more so, the web state has not yet been recognized by any UN member state (or at least an unrecognized state, micro–state or virtual state).

But we can put the question differently: is it acceptable to consider a web state as a contender for the status of a full-fledged state in the foreseeable future?

At first glance, such a question seems meaningless: the key (in the traditional sense) feature of the state is the presence of a real territory in the real world. What a web state cannot have by definition.

But not everything is so clear. A hundred years ago, it seemed impossible that a currency devoid of gold reinforcement could become the main currency of international trade and a means of storing monetary reserves (at least partially) for almost all countries of the world. But the Nixon shock of 1971 made the impossible possible and the US dollar became for many years probably the most popular currency in the world. The next step is bitcoin: it would seem, just a set of numbers, not backed up by anything at all (even the authority of the issuing state, not to mention more mundane matters like gold or highly liquid goods), a joke of computer geeks who released another token (yes, there were local currencies in computer games: it could be just "gold", or a monetary equivalent with its own name, which could sometimes be purchased from developers or even other players for quite real money, but this "gold" was used exclusively inside the game); there were also virtual quasi-money like Yandex money or Web money, used in the 2000s, when not everyone had bank cards, and the Internet sales market (primarily in the field of music, computer games, antiviruses and a number of other software products) was already growing. However, these were systems with "external" power with "real" money. Bitcoin is a fundamentally different system: a thing in itself, where both the production of currency (mining) and the purchase and sale for bitcoins are carried out on the world Wide Web, and quite real goods in the real world can be paid for (as if a loaf of bread was bought with WOW Gold in the nearest supermarket). Of course, the first such purchase was more of an adventure: in 2010, two pizzas were purchased for 10,000 bitcoins with a total cost of $ 25 (Bazanov S. Bitcoin pizza: how it was // Medium: website. URL: https://medium.com/bitcoin-review/%D0%B1%D0%B8%D1%82%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B8%D0%BD-%D0%BF%D0%B8%D1%86%D1%86%D0%B0-%D0%BA%D0%B0%D0%BA-%D1%8D%D1%82%D0%BE-%D0%B1%D1%8B%D0%BB%D0%BE-65012d03f9af (accessed 10.08.2022)). Today, 1 bitcoin costs about $40,000, which makes it by a huge margin the most expensive currency in the world. That is, a currency that is produced in a decentralized manner and is not backed by any real material goods has real purchasing power and popularity, and is also subject to a large number of restrictions (the maximum total volume of bitcoin production, low transaction processing speed, etc. (Anisimov M. The main problems of Bitcoin. How to solve them? // Bytwork.com : website. URL: https://bytwork.com/articles/btc-problems (accessed 10.08.2022)) ^[14].

Today, the recently impossible currency is recognized as a legal tender even in a number of leading economies of the world, such as Germany and Japan, Sastriptsin A. Which countries have adopted and legalized Cryptocurrency? Report 2022. // Bytwork.com : website. URL: https://bytwork.com/articles/adoption (accessed 10.08.2022).

It is important to note one more fact: if before the words about the statement to the police about the theft of a tank in a computer game were just a joke, today such statements are not only accepted, but they open quite real criminal cases, conduct investigations, bringing those responsible for the theft of virtual property to very real criminal responsibility (Surovtsev A. 5 uncovered thefts of tanks in the WOT game // iPhones.ru : website. URL: https://www.iphones.ru/iNotes/544050 (accessed 10.08.2022)). Gradually, the real world increasingly recognizes the reality of the virtual world.

Against this background, the fundamental possibility of recognizing a web state as a "real" state ceases to seem fantastic. As has already been established, a "real" state must have territory, population, independence in international affairs, have power and - what distinguishes a full-fledged state from unrecognized, micro- and virtual states - international recognition.

Of the features listed above, for a web state (due to the peculiarities of its existence), only the presence of a territory in the physical world is not available (having acquired such at least to some extent, it will turn into another type of state). You can, of course, speak as from the territory about the server on which the data of the web state is stored. However, at present, the relevant information is usually not in one place: it can be distributed or duplicated between several servers, or even between individual personal computers (of which there may be thousands or tens of thousands) scattered around the world.  The population in the form of users present through their avatars on the territory of the web state can be considered a fait accompli. It is quite easy to create institutions of governance and suppression (and in a certain form they exist in the form of administrators, moderators and other persons who make sure that the "population" of the web state behaves decently). The economy also already actually exists (Principles of the Decenturion State // Decenturion.su : website. URL: https://decenturion.su/info/printsipy-gosudarstva-detsenturion (accessed 10.08.2022)). It remains to achieve international recognition.

Actually, it is the latter circumstance that in practice gives the proclaimed state the status of a "real" state. From the actual point of view, well-established states can be "invisible" to other states for decades. On the contrary, virtually non–existent states may well be recognized by the world community as a subject of international law (in 1918-1924, before the so-called "recognition strip", in a number of countries of the world it was officially believed that the interests of Russia were represented by the embassies of the Russian Empire or the Russian Republic - in Egypt, the embassy of the Russian Empire worked until 1923. (Gusterin P. Diplomatic missions and consular offices of the Russian Empire on the territory of modern Arab States // History of the State: website. URL: https://statehistory.ru/5800/Diplomaticheskie-predstavitelstva-i-konsulskie-uchrezhdeniya--Rossiyskoy-imperii-na-territorii-sovremennykh-arabskikh-gosudarstv / (accessed 10.08.2022)).

One of the good reasons that contributed to the diplomatic recognition of Soviet Russia was the transition to the NEP in the RSFSR and the economic interest of Western countries in trade with the young Soviet state ^[15].

Accordingly, it can be assumed that one of the conditions for the fundamental possibility of international recognition of the web state is the economic interest of traditional states in contacts with the web state. Moreover, formalized contacts. It would seem that what can a web state offer to a traditional state so that the latter is ready to consider the hitherto unseen question of recognizing education that exists only in the digital world as a full-fledged state? What is even possible in the digital world that can benefit the physical world? And what is perhaps easier to implement in the digital world than in the physical world? We can assume that communication will be the answer. We are already used to numerous messengers, social networks, online platforms for meetings and remote work and other digital assistants. The web state can take this process to a new level, allowing citizens of such a web state to form teams to solve any tasks, organize interaction with other teams, search for investors both large and by a method similar to crowdfunding, etc., providing these processes with a combination of freedom inherent in ordinary online platforms, with elements of control and guarantees of the parties' fulfillment of their obligations, characteristic of state regulation. It is the human potential and intellectual product that can become a powerful lever of influence of the web state on traditional states, capable of providing diplomatic recognition of the web state in the future. It is no coincidence that back in 2009, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation S. Ivanov said: "People are our "second oil"" (Ivanov urges people to invest in Russia's "second oil" // RIA Novosti: website. URL: https://ria.ru/20090316/165063972.html (accessed 10.08.2022)). In modern realities, a digital product can be significantly more valuable than a physical product: the cheapest laptop without an operating system in one of the major chain stores of household appliances and electronics costs almost 22,000 (DNS // DNS: website. URL: https://www.dns-shop.ru/catalog/17a892f816404e77/noutbuki/?f [65f]=264j (accessed 10.08.2022)), almost the same laptop (manufacturer, model, technical specifications), but with an operating system installed -24.000 (DNS // DNS: website. URL: https://www.dns-shop.ru/catalog/17a892f816404e77/noutbuki/?f [65f]=17bfk2 (accessed 10.08.2022)), and the operating system separately costs almost 11,000 rubles (DNS // DNS: website. URL: https://www.dns-shop.ru/catalog/recipe/93da2f82f5018b54/windows-11 / (accessed 10.08.2022)). But the computer user's needs are far from being exhausted by the operating system: an office suite alone costs (if we are talking about Microsoft) from 9500 rubles (SoftMagazin // SoftMagazin: website. URL: https://www.softmagazin.ru/soft/ofisnye-programmy-i-prilozheniya/ofisnye-pakety/filter/zhelezo_ili_soft-is-e8dd13b9-70ad-11e9-ba89-002590e50dd1/uroven_menyu_1-is-cefc4453-a3b5-11e9-ba8b-002590e50dd1/uroven_menyu_2-is-01d6b10d-a3b7-11e9-ba8b-002590e50dd1/ya_pokupayu_dlya_khar_ka-is-b4b48c5d-93fb-11e9-ba89-002590e50dd1/apply / (accessed 10.08.2022)). Without software, a computer is just a useless piece of hardware. And if it is impossible to produce a computer in a web state, then creating software within the walls of a web state is a very real task. As well as any other type of intellectual products: from literary works or a blog to drawings of buildings or equipment. In particular, we can talk about the fulfillment of government orders from different countries of the world in almost any field. If the web state manages to accumulate a sufficiently serious intellectual potential and the accompanying amount of intellectual property, this can become a completely effective way to influence the physical world.

For the modern world, one of the characteristic features is outsourcing. In the US industry, the share of outsourcing was about 50% ten years ago, in Europe it was about 70% (Ibragimov S. Outsourcing of giants from the USSR to Boeing: why big business works with external teams // VC.RU : website URL: https://vc.ru/services/94639-autsorsing-gigantov-ot-sssr-do-boeing-pochemu-krupnyy-biznes-rabotaet-s-vneshnimi-komandami (accessed 10.08.2022)). Today, outsourcing is used even at the state level in areas that were previously considered the exclusive prerogative of the state: in the United States, private space campaigns are largely relied on in the development of space research (NASA's trust in outsourcing creates a dilemma for the space agency // Logo ru.livingorganicnews.com : website. URL: https://ru.livingorganicnews.com/nasas-reliance-outsourcing-launches-causes-dilemma-468040 (accessed: 06.08.2022)).

It is logical to assume that within the framework of the web state, extensive opportunities can be created for the provision of outsourcing services. And if the volume of outsourcing services provided by residents of the cyber state turns out to be quite impressive, and the governments or related structures of "traditional" states will act as clients, "traditional" states may need additional guarantees from the web state. Such guarantees are somewhat easier to obtain from a full-fledged subject of international law than from an education existing exclusively in a virtual environment.

The second important factor is political necessity: if there is a sufficiently serious influence from the web state on the economy, public opinion on a global scale and, as a consequence, political influence, traditional states may have a desire to include the web state in the system of international relations. One of the arguments may be the desire to prevent the possibility of using the resources of the web State in the interests of States under international sanctions or seeking to create, for example, nuclear weapons. This can be done through the accession of the web State to various international agreements, such as the 1968 Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Such a document does not imply the accession of associations other than states to it, and the accession of a web state to it (regardless of whether there is a formal act of recognition of its state by a UN member state) will de facto mean its recognition as a subject of international law.

Thus, hypothetical prerequisites allowing for the possibility of recognition by at least some representatives of the world community of a web state as a State subject to international law exist.

However, in both scenarios discussed above, the initiative to recognize the web State comes from traditional States.

It is more difficult to answer the question of how much the web state itself may be interested in international recognition. Such structures often arise as a desire to expand the boundaries of the physical world, and inclusion in the system of international relations, on the contrary, will erect certain barriers around the web state.

Nevertheless, it is impossible to completely exclude the possibility of including web states in the system of international relations in the future: if the Decenturion model turns out to be sufficiently effective and attractive to Internet users, sooner or later the question of including a web state (and, most likely, several similar entities by that time) in the system of international relations will arise. the world. It will certainly be a slow process. Bitcoin, which began its journey in 2009 and is today a fairly popular means of payment, is officially accepted for payment in only a dozen countries (Sastriptsin A. Which countries have accepted and legalized Cryptocurrency? Report 2022. // Bytwork.com : website. URL: https://bytwork.com/articles/adoption (accessed 10.08.2022)) and several large online stores (for example, the popular Amazon), firms selling goods online (including Microsoft), even some offline trading platforms (for example, KFC fast food restaurants in Canada) (Sastriptsin A. How does Ripple differ from Bitcoin? Comparison and conclusions. // Bytwork.com : website. URL: https://bytwork.com/articles/chem-ripple-otlichaetsya-ot-bitcoin-sravnenie-i-vyvody (accessed 10.08.2022)). In a number of countries around the world, bitcoin is not only not accepted as a means of payment, but also its turnover is prohibited at the legislative level (for example, the turnover of cryptocurrencies in Russia is actually prohibited according to Federal Law No. 259-FZ of 31.07.2020, which entered into force on 01.01.2021. and amendments thereto signed by Vladimir Putin on July 14, 2022). Most likely, as such a phenomenon as the web state develops, it will be expected to follow a similar path. However, unlike cryptocurrencies, which have easily integrated into the existing financial system due to the increasing focus on non-cash payments (in Sweden, cash has almost completely disappeared from circulation), the inclusion of web states in the system of international relations will require its transformation: in addition to the specific location and mechanism of population formation, unlike traditional states with developed centralized power, under which the entire existing system of international relations was built, at least in the Decenturion, governance is carried out by the method of direct democracy and there is no formal head of state in it (the Decenturion State // Decenturion.su : website. URL: https://decenturion.su/info/decenturion (accessed 10.08.2022)), which somewhat makes the Decenturion related to the anti-globalization movement (Klein N. Fences and windows: Chronicles of the anti-globalization movement [electronic resource] // Voks caf?.net : website. URL: https://bookscafe.net/read/klyayn_naomi-zabory_i_okna_hroniki_antiglobalizacionnogo_dvizheniya-153405.html#p1 (accessed 10.08.2022)).

Given these features, it can be assumed that even if the web state model proves effective and in demand on the Internet, acquires tangible weight in the global economy and even politics, the process of recognizing specific web states or the very possibility of international recognition of a particular web state as a subject of international law will take hardly less than 10 years. If this process begins, it can be assumed, based on the above scenarios, that the initiative of international recognition will come not from the web state, but from "real" states.

If the discussion on the international recognition of the web State as a subject of international law turns into a practical plane, and the web state itself does not show any desire to acquire the status of a recognized state, the world community may face a question (consideration of which is not included in the objectives of this article): is it possible to internationally recognize an education as a subject of international law without this entity (in our case, a web state) appealing to the world community with such a request (a kind of "forced recognition")?