The System of Social Trust (Social Rating) in China: Problems and Prospects of Implementation in the Russian Federation

The events of the last decades convincingly prove that the economic development of modern states (both the core of the world capitalist system and its periphery) will experience significant difficulties due to the increase in costs and contradictions of this system, which can no longer be resolved by traditional methods for capitalism, in particular, by seizing new markets (since the world market and all countries of the planet are involved in the division of labor to one degree or another), as well as the dumping of economic costs from the core states of the world capitalist system to the countries of its periphery (since the latter either actively oppose the imposed unequal trade exchange, in particular, the People's Republic of China, or are in a state of impossibility of further compression of domestic consumption within the framework of the above exchange is under threat of the final impoverishment of the broad strata of the population to a level that excludes its reproduction, for example, a significant part of the African States).

In this regard, new models of the socio-economic structure of society with new management systems and behavioral supervision of it are being sought in various countries. These processes, on the one hand, are an alternative to the unfolding of the world war (namely, world wars have twice in the last century "restarted" the world capitalist system, changing the pool of economic leaders in it and zeroing out the system of economic costs and contradictions in their favor), as they allow to identify new reserves and drivers of economic development within individual countries and their regional groups by redistributing economic income between individual political classes and strata in society on the basis of various new systems for assessing the behavior and activities of their members, as well as their loyalty to the ruling political class, and on the other hand, a condition for ensuring the stability of the mechanism of public power in the country by centralizing the system of public administration, which will act in the case of The World War was the political basis both for the victory of specific countries in it, and for the restoration of their economies in the post-war period.

Within the framework of this scientific research, of particular interest is the analysis of the processes of searching for new models of the socio-economic structure of society, as well as new management systems and behavioral supervision over it, in the People's Republic of China for a number of reasons: firstly, the PRC is the second state on the planet in terms of population in 2023, and secondly, the Chinese economy is significantly larger than the economy of any state on the planet, including the United States; thirdly, the PRC is a powerful state in military-technical terms with a difficult-to-predict amount of nuclear weapons (due to the traditional non-participation of this country in numerous international treaties on the limitation and reduction of strategic offensive arms); fourth, the PRC continues to confidently position itself, in particular, in the Constitution of the People's Republic of China, as a socialist state of the democratic dictatorship of the people, led by the working class and based on the union of workers and peasants; ^[7] Fifthly, it was in the People's Republic of China that such processes were initiated much earlier than in other states and formalized today in the current Chinese legislation as a complex system of social trust (social rating).

In the domestic and foreign scientific literature, there is no single approach to understanding the significance and role of the institute of social trust (social rating) in the PRC in the mechanism of the socio-economic structure of society and its management system.

A number of authors believe that the system of social trust (social rating) in China is an attempt to create a new model for managing the digital economy and digital society with the help of a system of modern digital technologies for assessing and influencing socio-economic entities (society as a whole, individuals, as well as enterprises, institutions, organizations of all organizational andlegal forms and forms of ownership). ^{[8, pp. 55-61; 18, pp. 60-69; 4, pp. 62-74]}

In part, this approach is justified and confirmed by the fact that the PRC authorities were among the first to use digital technologies in an attempt to analyze the behavior of individuals located on their territory, as well as the activities of legal entities, both from the position of their compliance with current legislation, the system of Chinese folk traditions, cultural customs, and from the position of their loyalty to the ruling the political regime. But, in our opinion, the use of digital technologies in the management of socio-economic development in China is only a choice of new methods of administration of complex socio-economic systems based on scientific and technological progress, and not a change in the model of the socio-economic structure of Chinese society.

According to other scientists, the system of social trust (social rating) should be considered exclusively from an economic point of view as an attempt to ensure the reindustrialization of the economy in China in the conditions of compression of international demand for Chinese imports, as well as as a kind of driver of economic growth. ^{[12, pp. 41-48; 3, pp. 207-210]} Undoubtedly, one of the reasons for the introduction of in the PRC, the social trust system (social rating) is a breakdown of the model that has been in place for decades, when the Chinese economy served economically developed countries with cheap goods, relying on the relative cheapness of Chinese labor, its discipline, as well as the growing demand for these products abroad. The progressive growth of the cost of Chinese products, the accumulation by the PRC of a significant amount of foreign debt of the United States and the European Union countries, the progressive seizure by the PRC of new markets for its products, the expansion of the nomenclature of Chinese exports due to the displacement of products from the world markets of developed capitalist states, exacerbated economic contradictions between these countries and the PRC, which gave rise to a series of trade wars between the USA and the PRC, ^{[17, pp. 55-68]} compression of trade markets for Chinese products, increase in the cost of logistics services. These circumstances forced the Chinese leadership to accelerate, on the one hand, to reduce the costs of production within the country by increasing the level of exploitation of the proletariat, and on the other hand, to expand the domestic market for products manufactured in China. The simultaneous implementation of these two processes, partly contradictory to each other, in the conditions of a significant private capitalist sector in the PRC, required the use of new information technologies in the management of society and supervision of the behavior of both ordinary citizens and business entities.

However, considering the system of social trust and social ratings solely as a tool to improve the efficiency of the Chinese economy means an unjustified narrowing of its field of application in the PRC. Because, ultimately, the implementation of this system is aimed at preserving the existing socio-economic formation in China, as well as the power of the CPC as the most essential feature of socialism with Chinese specifics (according to Article 1 of the Constitution of the People's Republic of China).

Some authors believe that the system of social trust (social rating) in China represents a new systemic characteristic of political reliability in Chinese society, as well as a new system of Chinese constitutionalism. ^{[16, pp. 349-361; 15, pp. 63-65]} However, in our opinion, the system of social trust (social rating) does not change in any way The system of state power and management in the People's Republic of China does not encroach on the leadership and guiding role of the CPC in the country. It only represents a new tool for influencing society by simultaneously evaluating each of its elements and influencing it with the help of a complex system of coercive measures, persuasion, censure, etc.

A number of authors consider the system of social trust (social rating) in the PRC from narrowly specialized positions – as a tool used in regulating migration relations, ^{[1, pp. 287-294]} in the fight against crime, ^[2] investigation of crimes and offenses, ^{[13, pp. 232-236]}, etc. These studies allow us to analyze: the degree of impact this system affects all spheres of life of Chinese society and the state; its effectiveness in assessing the behavior of citizens of the People's Republic of China, the activities of its economic entities; the mechanism of influence of the apparatus of public power on offenders, criminals, persons not loyal to the ruling political regime. However, as noted earlier, the system of social trust (social rating) is universal in China. Therefore, such studies can be considered only as an empirical scientific basis for evaluating the results of the application of this system in various areas of public administration in the country.

According to some authors, the system of social trust (social rating) in the People's Republic of China is a unique phenomenon, the emergence of which was historically caused in China due to the peculiarities of the emergence and development of this state. ^{[14, pp. 72-88; 6, pp. 48-50]}

Undoubtedly, the emergence and development of this system in China is largely due to the peculiarities of Chinese culture, social and state development, which does not negate the possibility of borrowing certain elements of this system by other states, which we can observe at present both in our country and in many foreign countries. ^{[10, pp. 118-120]}

In this regard, it seems necessary to analyze the genesis of the social trust system (social rating) in China, as well as to formalize and justify the author's classification of the stages of its formation and development in this country.

The necessity and importance of accounting and control as the basis of the public administration system in the new socialist state - the People's Republic of China - was realized and consistently carried out by the Chinese state and party leadership from the first days of the appearance of the PRC on the political map of the world in 1949.

Even the founder of the Soviet state, V. I. Lenin, wrote in his work "The State and the Revolution" that "having overthrown the capitalists and officials ... it is possible to immediately ... replace them - in the control of production and distribution, in the accounting of labor and products - with armed workers, completely armed people, ... without mixing ... the question of control and accounting with the question of scientifically educated personnel of engineers, agronomists, etc." ^[9]

It seems that there are several main stages of the formation and development of the social trust system (social rating) in China:

1) The stage of formation and development of the system of passive control of the apparatus of public power over the activities of citizens of the People's Republic of China and economic entities, which preceded the construction of the system of social trust (social rating) in the People's Republic of China (1949-2013).

This stage is characterized by the distribution of functions for accounting and monitoring the activities of citizens of the People's Republic of China and economic entities by time, place and circle of persons between various subjects of both the apparatus of public power and other subjects of the political system of Chinese society.

This historical stage includes several periods: before the beginning of Deng Xiaoping's economic reforms; during the period of these reforms.

The issue of control and accounting in the young Chinese state, from 1949 until the above-mentioned reforms, was solved based on the historically strong role of local communities in Chinese society. At the same time, the main role in the control of public authorities over citizens was assigned to territorial working cells (danwei), ^[19] which coordinated the activities of ordinary citizens, not only solving numerous issues of their life (for example, in terms of providing food, goods and medical care), but also coordinating any significant events in life (in particular marriage registration, migration), as well as applying a system of penalties for violators (for example, in terms of their dismissal from work).

At the same time, the collection of information about the behavior of Chinese citizens in this historical period was carried out through two main systems: huku and dangan. ^[21] The first of them contained records of household registration, family members and relatives, as well as information about significant events in the life of the Chinese, for example, marriage, divorce, death, change of residence, and the second recorded industrial and social relations of citizens).

Deng Xiaoping's reforms, which have been actively implemented since the beginning of the 90s of the last century, led to mass migration of Chinese citizens from rural to urban areas, rapid development of private economic entities. This required new forms of accounting and control over both the behavior of ordinary citizens of the country and the activities of the above-mentioned business entities.

In this regard, in the People's Republic of China in the 90s of the 20th century, the foundations of the so-called "electronic government" were laid, 12 key projects of which were combined into a single system called the "Golden Shield", which was gradually implemented throughout the PRC in 1998-2004. Within the framework of this system, the following issues were centralized: the safe use of the Internet with the possibility of filtering and blocking its content (which was called the "Great Chinese Firewall); control and informing the authorities about offenses; management of all types of security in the country; information monitoring throughout the PRC; network management of territories.

Within the framework of the Golden Shield system, a wide network of observers (in rural territorial units), as well as observers and volunteer volunteers (in cities) was deployed on the territory of the People's Republic of China. These activists were stimulated in their work by a system of benefits and preferences (free access to medical services, the ability to send children to prestigious educational institutions, as well as receive monetary remuneration in the amount equivalent to about $ 100). ^{[5, pp. 251-252]}

2) The stage of formation and development of the system of active control of the apparatus of public authority over the activities of citizens of the People's Republic of China and economic entities, which is the system of social trust (social rating) in the People's Republic of China (2014 – present).

This stage is characterized by the concentration of functions for accounting and monitoring the activities of citizens of the People's Republic of China and economic entities within the framework of a unified system of public administration in the country.

Within the framework of this stage of formation and development of the social trust system (social rating), two periods can be distinguished: a) the planning period of this system in the experimental mode (2014-2020); b) the period of phased implementation of the social trust system (social rating), which began in 2020 (a certain catalyst for this period was the development of a viral pandemic Covid-19) and continues at the present time.

The beginning of the first period of this stage was due to the need to develop the Chinese domestic market at an accelerated pace (first of all, credit services and investments), which was experiencing a certain stagnation caused by a decrease in investment in China from Western countries.

However, the introduction of a social trust system (social rating) pursued a number of other goals.

In the field of monitoring the behavior of ordinary citizens of the People's Republic of China, such goals include the need to: cultivate forced collectivism; weeding out citizens who are "unconscious" by misunderstanding from disloyal citizens; cultivating positive traditional Chinese values (for example, support for the older generation); cultivating positive activism (that is, the desire of Chinese citizens to participate in public events approved by the authorities movements, events, etc.)

The advantages for Chinese citizens from the introduction of a social trust system (social rating) consist in obtaining numerous preferences from the state (for example, the opportunity to make a career in public administration, to educate children in prestigious educational institutions, etc.). The disadvantages for citizens who ignore this system are the possibility of disconnecting them from a number of services (for example, the possibility of buying air tickets, purchasing real estate), as well as applying automatically disciplining restrictive measures to them.

In the field of control over private business, such goals include cultivating the desire of business to: gain the trust of authorities in making trade transactions and repayment of loans; organization of bilateral cooperation with the state; participation in state programs for social rating of citizens (in particular, by stimulating business to not serve persons from the "black lists").

The advantages for business from the introduction of a social trust system (social rating) consist in obtaining numerous preferences from the state (for example, "weak checks" during tender procedures). The disadvantages are the inevitability of business entities ignoring this system to get into the "black list of business enterprises".

The purpose of the social trust system (social rating) was first formulated in the document "On planning the construction of a social trust system (2014-2020)", developed by the State Council of the People's Republic of China, which stated that this system allows for the full implementation of the concept of scientific development and the construction of a socialist harmonious society, being an important means of improving the socialist market economic system, strengthening and introducing innovations in social management. ^[11]

The main authority coordinating the implementation of the social trust system (social rating) in the PRC is a special commission under the Politburo of the CPC Central Committee, which pays special attention to the implementation of this system in four important areas of public administration in the country: "honesty in public affairs; commercial integrity, public integrity, judicial credibility." ^{[5, p. 252]}

In addition, the system of social trust (social credit) is consistently fixed in the materials of the five-year development plans of the People's Republic of China, which highlight the main directions of its use: to collect information about the state of the economy (indicators of the development of both individual industries and individual economic entities); to implement a flexible system of penalties and impact on violators. ^[23]

To date, after the completion of the experiment on the introduction of a social trust system (social rating), which was recognized as successful, information about the behavior of Chinese citizens within this system can come from various sources that record: 1) various types of offenses and crimes committed by citizens; 2) the activity of citizens on the Internet; 3) their movement within the country, as well as abroad; 4) the interaction of citizens with work colleagues, neighbors, party, Komsomol, other youth, public and trade union organizations.

At the same time, ordinary citizens remain in the dark both about the mechanism of fixing information, and about how their individual rating correlates with the individual ratings of other citizens. This serves as an additional motivation for citizens not to commit offenses and crimes, as well as to refrain from behavior disloyal to the system of public power.

Each citizen is assigned an individual rating, and the access of citizens to various types of benefits and preferences in the country, which we indicated earlier, depends on its value. At the same time, the system of incentive measures and adverse consequences (as a reaction of society and the state to the behavior of a particular citizen) is constantly being improved, replenished with new elements of both behavior assessment and impact on the citizen.

However, the organization and functioning of the social trust system (social rating) in China is associated with numerous problems, among which the following can be distinguished:

1) First of all, this system conflicts with the processes of implementation, protection and protection of the system of constitutional rights and freedoms of citizens of the People's Republic of China. Thus, the practice of functioning of this system in a number of districts and provinces of the People's Republic of China showed that it recorded the "excessive religiosity" of citizens of these territorial units, expressed in behavior and clothing, which influenced the calculation of the individual rating of citizens. ^[22] However, this contradicts the freedom of religion enshrined in article 36 of the Constitution of the People's Republic of China, according to which no one in the People's Republic of China has the right to force citizens not to profess religion, or to discriminate against them for professing religion.

2) The next major problem in the organization and functioning of the above-mentioned system is its opacity for civil society institutions in the PRC, which allows using this system as a method of pressure on political opponents of the CPC, formally not committing offenses and crimes, acting within the constitutional field, but, at the same time, politically disloyal, on the one hand, the apparatus of public power in the country, and on the other hand, the CPC itself.

3) A significant problem arising from the previous one is the lack of transparency of the participation of regional and local authorities of the PRC in the functioning of the social trust system (social rating), which allows them to distort the results of the system in their favor by manipulating arrays of information.

4) A certain problem in the work of the system continues to be its ignoring by a part of economic entities, especially representatives of small businesses.

5) An important problem that hinders the optimal functioning of this system is the high level of corruption in the public administration system in China, as well as in business. In addition, there are great risks that various corrupt groups in government and business will use the system of social trust (social rating) both in the fight against representatives of competing groups and with any dissatisfied citizens.

6) A significant problem is the fact that the centralization of the information collection and processing system within the framework of the social trust system (social rating) creates threats of its theft, destruction, and use to the detriment of the interests of the PRC. At the same time, absolutely reliable security systems for storing, processing and using this information. This is evidenced by the facts of getting into the "black market" of information databases with personal data of citizens of the People's Republic of China. ^[20]

How can the above-mentioned problems be solved by ensuring the prospects for the development of the social trust system (social rating) in China?

First of all, this system should be changed to the extent that it contradicts the system of rights and freedoms of citizens of the People's Republic of China enshrined in the Constitution of the People's Republic of China.

In addition, it is necessary to provide a multi-level security system for information data that fall into the above-mentioned system, reliably preventing theft, distortion, or illegal use of this information, providing for criminal liability measures for violators (flesh to capital punishment).

It is also necessary to develop and implement a system of anti-corruption measures both in the PRC as a whole and in the field of collecting and processing information within the framework of the functioning of the social trust system (social rating).

It is necessary to ensure the transparency of the social trust system (social rating) for civil society institutions (for starters, for CPC organizations of any level, up to local and primary party organizations).

This will make it possible to use this system in the interests not of narrow groups of the PRC population, but of its majority, ensuring the progressive development not only of the country's economy, but also of all other spheres of life of Chinese society and the state.

At the same time, the system of social trust (social rating) implemented in the People's Republic of China has a number of positive aspects, which is why, as we noted earlier, other states of the planet are making attempts either to borrow certain elements of this system, or to build their own systems of control over the behavior of their citizens, as well as the activities of economic entities. At the same time, the Russian Federation is not an exception in this matter.

What developments of the social trust system (social rating) can be used in the Russian Federation?

First of all, it is worth paying attention to the fact that this system allows for a more flexible classification of citizens' behavior into: criminals; violators of administrative legislation; persons who consciously or unconsciously allow uncodified antisocial behavior; persons who systematically show activity at the border of illegal or antisocial behavior (for example, abusing alcohol purchases, casino games or video games); persons who have regular contacts with criminals or offenders outside their professional competence; persons who position themselves as legal and illegal opposition to the existing political regime, or the Russian Federation itself.

In addition, it is of interest for the introduction in Russia of the positive experience of the organization and functioning of the social trust system (social rating) in the PRC in terms of coordination in this system of all public authorities endowed with control and supervisory powers, on the one hand, as well as any economic entities (regardless of their organizational and legal form and form property).

Methods developed in the PRC within the framework of the social trust system (social rating) for identifying unreliable citizens, neutralizing the liberal impulse of behavior, countering the "orange revolutions", etc., also present great prospects for implementation in the Russian Federation.

Also of interest is the system of multifaceted punishment developed in the PRC within the framework of the social trust system (social rating), within which not only criminal or administrative penalties are applied, but also a system of measures to prevent illegal behavior, warning citizens about the risk of crossing the border of antisocial behavior, disciplining measures, measures to stimulate lawful behavior, etc.

In this regard, it can be concluded that the development and implementation by the state of behavioral control systems for both individuals and legal entities is a necessary necessity to ensure optimal management of all areas of society. However, their implementation and implementation should be carried out under the constant supervision of civil society institutions (in particular, through the functioning of the institute of public control).