Abstract: This comparative research is dedicated to the attitude of the residents of PRC and Russia towards the practices of digital profiling and social score (ranking / grading) that are currently being implemented worldwide. Analysis is conducted on the results of interviewing the Chinese citizens, as well as sociological survey carried out among the Russian residents. The interviewing of the Chinese citizens was conducted in two stages: September 2020 via questionnaire in a written form; and March 2021, through the web platform CrowdSignal. The survey of the Russian residents was carried out from September 8, 2021 to October 26, 2021 in the form of filling out a printed questionnaire, as well as through the web platform. The conducted interviews demonstrate a high level of confidence of Chinese youth in the practices of collecting and processing personal information that were adopted in China, as well as the government initiatives on implementation of the score mechanisms in public administration. Unlike the Chinese citizens, the Russian residents including youth, to a considerable extent are inclined towards distrust in the government and namely private commercial companies with regards to their method of collecting and use personal information. A significant part of the Russian residents have not yet made up their mind on digital profiling and social credit system, or are cautious of such innovations.

Abstract: The subject of this article is the problem of correspondence of the practices of digital profiling and social score, which imply collection and analysis of biographical (reputational) information, to the worldwide-accepted standards of protection of personal data and privacy. Analysis is conducted on the legislation of the People's Republic of China – the country that in recent years has implemented the “Social Credit System” in the sphere of public administration. This project consists of management practices, which are viewed through the prism of the legal model of personal data protection formed by the Law in Protection of Personal Information adopted in 2021. The peculiarity of this research is its comparative legal nature: the provisions of China’s legislation are juxtaposed to the provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation adopted in the European Union and Russia’s Federal Law “On Personal Data”. Assessment is given to the European and Russian models of regulation of operations with personal data in the context of possible implementation of digital profiling practices, social score (ranking, grading), and automated law enforcement decision-making. Having determined the gaps in the current Russian and EU legislation on personal data, and indicating the risk caused by the presence of blanket rules, the conclusion is made according to which the modern legislation on personal data can be an obstacle for arbitrary use of such data; however, it cannot stop the implementation of innovative technologies, mechanisms and practices that suggest using registry and biographical information of individuals for the purpose of social control into the public administration.

Abstract: This article examines the normative legal framework and principles of functionality of the Social Credit System that is currently being implemented in the People's Republic of China. For the first time in legal science, the Social Credit System is viewed not as an organizational and regulatory technique that in one or another way is related to law, but rather as an independent legal institution relevant to the branch of administrative law. The application of formal-legal and comparative-legal methods allows describing the hierarchy of sources of the Chinese law pertaining to social credit mechanisms and procedures, as well as giving characteristics to major provisions of the corresponding normative acts. The peculiarities of legal regulation of the mechanisms and procedures that comprise the Social Credit System in PRC include the following aspects: sublegislative nature of such regulation, prevalence of joint lawmaking, focal role of normative legal acts of the Chinese government, declarative character and ambiguity of multiple legal provisions with regards to the Social Credit System. The author underline the specificity of interpretation of the normative legal acts of the People's Republic of China, usage by the lawmaking branches of moral categories in formulation of provisions for regulation of elaboration and implementation of the social credit mechanisms. The provisions of governmental and departmental normative legal acts pertaining to the Social Credit System are correlated with the provisions of the current Constitution of the People's Republic of China.

Abstract: This article is dedicated to identification and examination of doctrinal grounds and historical prerequisites of the" Social Credit System (trustworthiness)” – a project introduced in the People’s Republic of China in the early 2000s, and currently being “exported” from People’s Republic of China to other countries. In the course of this research, the author analyzed the specific Chinese sources and prerequisites for the creation of modern social rating and control system, as well as non-national sources mostly attributed to the history of Western European political legal thought and Western social institutions. Viewing "Social Credit System" as a technique for exercising social control and oversight, the authors discover its origins in J. Bentham’s project" Panopticon ", Taylor’s philosophy of management, Confucian and legalistic traditions of Imperial China, ideas and institutions of the era of Chinese cultural revolution, as well as U.S. credit scoring systems. This article is the first within Russian science to study the historical and doctrinal prerequisites of China’s "Social Credit System”, taking into account the works of foreign scholars dedicated to the history of its establishment.  A new perspective is given on the Confucian ideas the ideas of Fajia (Legalism) School, which are interpreted as complementary sources of the modern system of social control developed in PRC. The authors believe that China’s “Social Credit System” and the related techniques of control represent a so-called “bridge” that connects “Western” history of the development of social institutions with typically “Eastern” political and sociocultural tradition. In conclusion, attention is turned to the positive aspects, as well as “shadow” side of implementation of the mechanism of “Social Credit System”, “reverse” of this process and all accompanying problems thereof.

Abstract: The article considers the problem of a potential possibility to describe the maximum crisis of the legal order. The author raises the question of a culmination point of the crisis in the legal sphere leading to the defragmentation of the legal system. He analyzes the interrelation between the legal order and the legal system, reveals common elements in these phenomena and defines the factors of the legal order dynamics and the structures underlying it. The article contains three parts. The first one is devoted to the problem of equating the legal system crises to economic crises. The second one considers the factors of the legal order dynamics influencing its condition and development trends, the connection of the legal order with the legal system. The third one analyzes the existential and historical background of law and the possibility of the maximum crisis of the legal order. The research methodology is based on the set of materialistic and civilizational approaches to the phenomena under consideration. The author applies the comparative-legal, system, analytical and dialectical methods, the method of historical and political interpretation of legal phenomena, and the method of prognostication. The article raises the issues which hadn’t been raised before within the Russian or the foreign legal science. The author introduces the notion of “onto-historical basis of the legal system”. This notion covers the range of the most stable structures underlying any legal system (the matrix of ideas about good and evil, just and unjust, the legal mentality of the society, the established traditions of lawmaking and law enforcement, etc.). The author concludes that the disruption of the fundamentals of the legal system, comprising its onto-historical basis, is inseparably linked with the maximum crisis of the legal order. 

Abstract: This article presents an attempt to re-actualize the concept of “state of nature” used in the work of the modern era thinkers. The article is divided into a brief introduction and two parts. The first part addresses the political-legal concept of the “state of nature”, its origin and semantic content. A special accent is made on the connection between the notion of “state of nature” and “the war of all against all”. The author assesses the possibility of using said concepts to describe the present and the future situation in the world. The second part is dedicated to the description of the crisis state of the social, political, and legal orders of the early XXI century. The notion of “global crisis” of the modern society is being introduced, giving characteristics and description to the key causes of this state. The author analyzes the peculiarities of the society of the modern global crisis, noting the trend towards decomposition and failure of the previous, customary political-legal forms and institutions. For the first time in the Russian theoretical-legal science the modern state of the international and national orders is compared to seemingly outdated concept of the “state of nature”. In the context of the research issues at hand, the views of the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau of the state of nature of the society is being examined from a different perspective.

Abstract: This article presents an attempt to re-actualize the concept of “state of nature” used in the work of the modern era thinkers. The article is divided into a brief introduction and two parts. The first part addresses the political-legal concept of the “state of nature”, its origin and semantic content. A special accent is made on the connection between the notion of “state of nature” and “the war of all against all”. The author assesses the possibility of using said concepts to describe the present and the future situation in the world. The second part is dedicated to the description of the crisis state of the social, political, and legal orders of the early XXI century. The notion of “global crisis” of the modern society is being introduced, giving characteristics and description to the key causes of this state. The author analyzes the peculiarities of the society of the modern global crisis, noting the trend towards decomposition and failure of the previous, customary political-legal forms and institutions. For the first time in the Russian theoretical-legal science the modern state of the international and national orders is compared to seemingly outdated concept of the “state of nature”. In the context of the research issues at hand, the views of the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau of the state of nature of the society is being examined from a different perspective.

Abstract: This article examines the return of the “just war doctrine” (bellum justum) and the concept of “unjust enemy” hostis injustus) with regards to the contemporary international law. The research consists of two parts: in the first part the just war ideas’ history, theories of St. Agustine, Thomas Aquinas and Francisco de Vitoria are examined; the second part is devoted to the manifestation of the just war ideas in the contemporary international law and international relations. This work is based on the methods of analysis, synthesis, analogy, method of historical and political interpretation of law, as well as method of the formal interpretation of law. It develops the ideas of such scientists, as Carl Schmitt, Alain de Benoist and China Miéville. The author comes to a conclusion about the deep transformations and crisis of the current international legal order, outdating of the old restrictive rules and return of the forgotten political-legal concepts, as well as legal principles and norms.

Abstract: One of the most serious issues in the modern social sciences is the problem of state. While being an "eternal" topic for the legal studies and political philosophy, the problems of state, statehood, attitude to state power currently are facing a challenges of a total new quality.  These challenges in the sphere of modern understanding of statehood require detailed evaluation.  This article includes a brief overview  of the most important problems and contradictions, influencing the statehood in the XXI century. The methodological setting of the study is dialectic, and it is reflected by the attempt to evaluate the matters in their development and internal contradictions. For his work  the author used the problem-categorical attitude allowing for the most significant elements of the object of studies. The study develops the ideas, which were provided by the leading representatives of the modern Russian and foreign political and legal sciences.     The author points out the transforming influence of the economic globalization processes upon the structure, functions and potential of the state institutions, noting the limitations to the sovereignty of the states, making the state sovereignty and unimportant ideological phantom.  The author then characterizes the state erosion processes on vast territories (Iraq, Haiti, Mali, Somali, Sudan, Ukraine, etc.). The author offers a critical evaluation of the spread of requirements for the "democratization" of a state, lowering the role of state in the public life.