The Construction and Definition Problems Surrounding the Political and Legal Ideal

Lykov Andrey Yurievich ORCID: 0009-0003-3305-753X Postgraduate student at Department of Theory and History of State and Law, Siberian Federal University 6 Maerchaka str., Krasnoyarsk Territory, 660065, Russia lykov.science@gmail.com

Public relations complications, the aggravation of global problems ^{[1, p. 6]}, and the development of scientific knowledge of modern natural and technical sciences inevitably pose new challenges to legal science. Since the ancient Greeks, humankind's best minds have struggled with the question of the most just form of social and state structure for thousands of years. The solution to this issue has begun to be left to the almighty artificial intelligence.

However, technological progress and its derivatives are not the only indicators of the need for new research. The events of the first quarter of the twentieth century have posed new challenges for Russia. Among the latter are the COVID-19 pandemic, the growing geopolitical conditions in the world, and the UN crisis, which are expressed in the inability to find consensus and the low effectiveness of international legal institutions in regulating relations between various organizations and states.

An additional burden for the domestic state was that Russia had been accepting Western values, legal norms, and the public administration system for a considerable time. At the same time, the acceleration of contradictions in the world has illustrated that many models of the Western social structure, which Russia aspired to, have significant drawbacks.

Despite the long history of the development of civil society, the European Union has shown the impossibility of implementing an independent foreign policy, as well as pronounced mercantilism in concluding international agreements by individual countries. In turn, the United States continues to decline in the democracy index ^{[2; 3, p. 74]}, as demonstrated by the crises in the Senate from the confrontation between the Democratic and Republican parties and the monopolization of financial flows. According to a given criterion, the political system is similar for the reasonably young post-Soviet countries. The international community found itself in a situation where the old development models had exhausted themselves, and new ones had yet to be created.

Moreover, such a vacuum manifests itself not only in international relations and law but also in various aspects of internal social processes. For example, even in developed countries, material polarization is growing by leaps and bounds ^{[4, p. 13–14; 5]}, centralization of management and disinformation ^{[6, p. 4–5]}, separation according to ethnic and cultural values ^{[7, p. 91]}, risks of the ultra-right’s political intolerance of ^{[8, p. 1, 6]}, stagnation of social elevators ^{[9, pp. 1, 71–72]}, etc.

These and many other emerging social phenomena require the development of new legal institutions based on the achievements of modern legal science. The latter's construction affects not only legal technique issues but also fundamental issues for the theory of state and law. A new draft of the political and legal ideal can contribute to the achievement of this goal. The study of the latter allows us to form criteria for creating the most optimal and effective state-legal model.

The understanding of the political and legal ideal phenomenon and the approaches to its definition differ in various scientific works. At the same time, such categories as the political and legal ideal are used ^{[10, pp. 29-36]}, the legal ideal ^{[11, pp. 13-14; 12, pp. 146; 13, pp. 42-45; 14, pp. 30-33]}, the state-legal ideal ^{[15, pp. 121-125]}, the public ideal ^{[16, p. 93-101; 17, p. 70]}, social ideal ^{[18, p. 16; 19, p. 26-31]}, ideal of a politically organized society ^{[20, p. 40–42]}, ideal state ^{[21, p. 7–11]} and many others ^{[22, p. 11]}, including industry ideals ^{[23, p. 73]}. In this regard, L.V. Karnaushenko rightly notes that "despite the deep general theoretical development, science has not reached a consensus on the semantic content of the legal ideal," and "the dualistic nature of law (as an idea and a state-management strategy at the same time) complicates the construction of conceptual explanations of the legal ideal" ^{[24, p. 108]}.

Considering the significant amount of scientific work on the research topic, analyzing existing ideas about the political and legal ideal seems practical, establishing contradictory positions and synthesizing ideas that best contribute to constructing a model of the best state and law. To take into account developments from various scientific fields, along with the application of the dialectical method, the partial use of the eclectic and synergetic approaches is also effective. In addition, the methodological basis of the study requires the use of several special techniques.

Firstly, all available works on the research subject can be divided into two categories. The first category consists of special developments of the political and legal ideal. They use terminology related to the study's subject, propose a comprehensive model of the political and legal ideal, or study its individual problems. For example, the latter may include issues of understanding the political and legal ideal, its functions and properties, and the establishment of ideas that should be reflected in the content of such a sample. The second category consists of the most general works on the theory and history of state and law and other social sciences. They do not use special terminology related to the subject of the study but address various issues of creating the best model of society, state, and law. In this regard, to one degree or another, any works in the field of jurisprudence affect the political and legal ideal theory, as they serve the purpose of improving and developing the state and law.

Secondly, when analyzing works from these two categories, the context of using the concept of a political and legal ideal should be considered. In some instances, the terminology used refers to the style of scientific presentation or is used for methodological purposes. For example, the latter circumstance can be revealed when several specialists identify the concepts of social and legal ideal, allowing them to focus on the main proposed ideas rather than the dispute about the interpretations used. For this reason, it seems helpful to use the divinatory method when considering some problems in understanding political and legal ideals.

When analyzing the authors' ideas, it is also necessary to consider the historical circumstances in which particular works are published. Scientists are often limited in their full presentation of their positions due to government policy. In this regard, it is impossible not to agree with T.F. Yaschuk's argument, given in the study of understanding the form of the state during the Soviet period, that "the democratization of public relations... had a beneficial effect on the state of historical and legal research. The number of scientists has constantly increased, and publishing activities have intensified; the softening of ideological dictates has expanded scientific issues, opened access to historical sources, and given a certain freedom in methodology, theoretical assessments, and conclusions" ^{[25, p. 22]}.

Thirdly, when studying the problems of the political and legal ideal, the content of the latter is proposed to be divided into two levels. The first level consists of the fundamental ideas that should be reflected in the model formed. First of all, it is necessary to refer to the works of specialists in the field of theory and history of state and law, philosophy of law, and political science. The second level of the political and legal ideal content consists of provisions specifying these ideas in relation to specific relations in society, including with the help of branch legal sciences. Such a distribution allows, on the one hand, the study of political and legal ideals concerning various social phenomena and, on the other hand, the application of unique legal methods to solve a specific scientific problem.

The political and legal ideal category has been the subject of analysis by many classical and modern authors. For example, R. Stammler, arguing about the legal ideal, pointed out that in society, it is impossible to establish universal patterns that would be reflected in all such models. Therefore, the search for absolute law is a delusion ^{[26, p. 195–196]}. For this reason, a legal ideal must be constructed independently of other social organisms for each society, as natural law changes in a specific historical period in specific circumstances ^{[26, p. 197]}. Related views, but in more antagonistic colors, were held by R. Iering and I.V. Hessen. According to R. Iering, "The idea that law should essentially be the same everywhere is no better than the idea that the treatment of all patients should be the same" ^{[27, p. 319]}. The author draws attention to the need for the right to "conform to the state of the people, the degree of their culture and the needs of the time" ^{[27, p. 319]}, denying the possibility of the formation of universal law for all peoples ^{[27, p. 319]}. I.V. Gessen, in turn, noted that "every nation in every epoch has... a social ideal... possessing at the moment... human minds to be ignominiously defeated after a while and give way... to a new one..., who in due time, will be prepared for the same fate" ^{[28, p. 15]}.

The opposite conclusions are substantiated by D. Finnis, who adheres to the position that in the content of the political and legal ideal for any state, basic natural law norms are based on the principles of practical reasonableness ^{[29, p. 163]}. For example, the scientist points out that a person should contribute to the common good of their society ^{[29, p. 163]}, ensure the effectiveness of the means used to achieve goals while minimizing negative consequences ^{[29, p. 165]}, observe the prohibition of actions that only harm or hinder the realization of any human benefits ^{[29, p. 156]}, as well as not to violate several other rules. Partially considered ideas appeared in the works of representatives of another legal school. P.I. Novgorodtsev and N.N. Alekseev. P.I. Novgorodtsev, talking about the social ideal, focused on the solidarity of all members of this society based on freedom and equality ^{[30, pp. 109–110; 31, pp. 232–233]}, ignoring, at the same time, the establishment of patterns of development of society itself. N.N. Alekseev, in turn, proceeded from the position that "achieving a perfect state of law is possible only with proper knowledge of values, their mutual relations, their order and hierarchy. From this point of view, the question of the legal ideal in its concrete and experimental formulation requires, first of all, serious and deep cognitive work" ^{[32, p. 204]}. In other words, N.N. Alekseev does not deny the possibility of comprehending universal norms and, as a result, their inclusion in the political and legal ideal content.

In the issue under consideration, one should agree that when forming the content of a political and legal ideal, it is possible to establish rules applicable to any state. Examining anthropological reports, D. Finnis clearly states that each society has several identical features, including understanding the value of human life, the need for population reproduction, the organization of cooperation between its members, and many others ^{[29, pp. 115–116]}. Such features are a manifestation of a set of patterns that exist in any social organism. If such essential and necessary relationships cease to exist, society will cease to exist. In this regard, M.N. Marchenko's thesis seems indisputable that "an important prerequisite that makes the relative unification of legal concepts not only necessary, but also to a large extent possible, are the most common sociological and natural (including anthropological) patterns that manifest themselves in any society and, in particular, to an appropriate extent in legal normativity, in the trends of its development" ^{[33, p. 317]}. For these reasons, R. Stammler's thesis about the possibility of finding only "natural law that would have a changing content" ^{[26, p. 196]} is hardly justified.

Modern legal studies also contain various approaches to studying the concept and properties of the political-legal ideal. P.A. Ol, speaking about the state-legal ideal, indicates that it is "a public (personal) idea of the most perfect (corresponding to the ideas of justice) state-legal organization of society, conditioned by moral and ethical norms, which is the ultimate goal of social (personal) aspirations and activities" ^{[34, p. 158]}. The category of the state-legal ideal is also used by A.V. Velichko ^{[35, p. 41]} and U.S. Taymaskhanov. The latter author identifies the legal ideal, which "constitutes a set of legal values, ideas, principles, attitudes to lawful behavior, legal knowledge that determine the semantic meaning of legality in the historically specific context of legal practice" ^{[36, p. 9]}. E. A. Frolova, considering the problem of the correlation of the social ideal and the personal ideal, notes that "if, in the absolute ideal, an individual’s consciousness serves as a guideline, then for the public, the quantitative element is important (the greatest happiness of the largest number of persons according to Bentham)" ^{[37, p. 459]}. Frolova states, "The personality should guide the social (legal) ideal. Thus, the individual's moral value in the public's conditions will be considered" ^{[37, pp. 462–463]}.

The theoretical analysis of the above judgments and the scientific works of other authors allows us to identify the basic properties of the political and legal ideal. As with the latter, it is proposed that criticality, perspective, projectivity, rationality, and regularity be considered. Moreover, attention should be paid to the fact that the degree of manifestation of these properties in a particular political and legal ideal may vary, allowing them to be used as criteria for evaluating such samples. In addition, some other properties remain the subject of scientific discussion, including those related to the issue of forming the correct content of the political and legal ideal.

Criticality implies that political and legal ideals are formed due to dissatisfaction with the state of existing relations in society. In this regard, D.Y. Shapsugov states that the main political and legal idea, one of the components of the political and legal ideal, reflects "unsatisfied social needs" ^{[38, pp. 12–13]}. G.S. Pratsko, like Shapsugov, justifiably notes that with any nature of existing normative legal acts, the legal ideal "provides the individual as a subject of law with the opportunity to measure the prevailing legal reality with possible, more positive achievements" ^{[39, p. 52]}. The above conclusions appear in other scientific works ^{[40, pp. 64–68]}.

At the same time, not every model of perfect state and law presupposes a high degree of criticality. For example, V.S. Nersesyants points out, "The main idea developed by Hegel in various variations is that the level of a sufficiently developed system of freedom, law, reason has already been reached and the state-legal principle of functioning of the modern (i.e., bourgeois) system corresponding to this level of development has been formed, all further progress of which should take place based on its own basis not only without violence and revolutions but even without visible changes" ^{[41, p. 281]}. For this reason, criticality should be understood not only from the point of view of the content but also from the point of view of the very process of evaluating existing social relations.

The property of perspective is expressed in the political and legal ideal aimed at the future state of public relations. As A.S. Budagova points out, in the context of considering the problem of the constitutional ideal, the primary purpose of the latter is to "formalize the balance between the past and the future" ^{[23, p. 73]}. In other words, models of perfect state and law are formed to ensure the further development of the social organism.

Projectivity implies the creation of a project intended to be implemented in practice by changing existing social phenomena or presupposes the existence of common ideas about implementing such a transformation. The property of projectivity can be expressed to varying degrees. Some political and legal ideals are presented as complex models that include basic ideas, specific changes, and drafts of normative legal acts. On the contrary, others may be limited to only a small area of social reality or may not have clearly formulated provisions. For example, many political and legal ideals described in political programs do not contain specific political and legal transformations and focus only on existing problems of society. They may also have the primary goal exclusively of redistributing societal power ^{[42, p. 124]}.

Scientific works contain other approaches that explain the property in question differently. D.Y. Shapsugov, along with the main political and legal idea and the image of political and legal reality, identifies as the third main component of the political and legal ideal "practical political and legal transformations that must be carried out to embody the ideal in reality" ^{[38, p. 12–13]}. On the contrary, N.H. Biglova points out that the "concept of an ideal state" does not contain its embodiment in reality ^{[43, p. 8]}. The latter understanding of the political-legal ideal seems justified, as the political-legal ideal does not always contain explicit political-legal transformations. This is confirmed by the already indicated assessment by Nersesyants of Hegel's main idea and also follows from a more general idea of the social ideal outlined by E.V. Osipova. According to her, "The social ideal always includes the idea of the perfect, most developed, without flaws and shortcomings, state of society" ^{[44, p. 9]}. At the same time, "The allocation of ideas about the perfect and proper state of society, which is opposed to the existing reality, as well as its ability to act as a goal, as constitutive features of the ideal, are sufficient for the allocation of a particular spiritual education as an ideal" ^{[44, p. 12]}.

Rationality as a property of the political and legal ideal means that when constructing such a model, an attempt is made to use rational methods. This formulation is due to the need to consider two important circumstances.

Firstly, the methods of cognition used to model the political and legal ideal are different at different stages of historical development. For example, the utopian method used in the works of T. Campanella ^[45] and T. Mohr ^[46], as well as partially in the works of representatives of other theoretical directions (Plato ^[47], I.G. Fichte ^[48], etc.), is characterized by a high degree of detail of the ideal of social life, a significant difference between the proposed model and the actual one of the lives of people, the inadequacy of the means to achieve the political and legal ideal, as well as the existence of unrealizable ideas ^{[49; 50; 19]}. This suggests a low degree of rationality of their content's proposed political and legal ideals or elements. On the contrary, the method of preserving the field of uncertainty and typologization in the political-legal ideal, used, for example, in the works of G. Spencer ^{[51, pp. 348, 373]}, G. Jellinek ^{[52, pp. 26–27]}, and M. Weber ^{[53, pp. 589–657]}, as well as the method of constructing natural law, used, including T. Hobbes ^[54], D. Locke ^[55], J.J. Rousseau ^[56], and other scientists, allows us to achieve a greater degree of rationality of the proposed models.

Secondly, since the political and legal ideal exists not only in the form of special developments of the authors but also in the form of members of society’s ordinary ideas about the most advanced models of the state and law, the very fact of an attempt to logically compare the existing and possible reality may indicate a minimum level of rational thinking. Another thing is that the result of such a comparison is not always embodied in the correct representations. In this regard, it is necessary to agree with the conclusions outlined by E.V. Uskova that "rational thinking is supposed to be possible without necessarily realizing the subject of thinking... Rationality, in this case, becomes an internal characteristic of human thinking. Awareness acts as an additional characteristic" ^{[57, p. 61]}. As the researcher points out, rationality should be considered, taking into account the features that are imposed on it by a specific person, which is expressed in its limitation by "historical framework, specific situation, emotions" and its interconnectedness with the content of "thoughts, desires and actions" ^{[57, p. 61]}. For this reason, many political and legal ideals can have a high degree of rationality while differing in their content.

The regularity of property means the political and legal ideal affects the existing political and legal practice. Moreover, political and legal ideals can influence people's behavior regardless of their consolidation in the system of legal norms, including in the state's constitution. This follows from the fact that the structure of legal consciousness belongs to legal ideology. G.S. Pratsko reasonably stated on this occasion that "the legal ideal is invisibly present in the spheres of law-making, the processes of implementation of legal laws and relevant legal norms. It is reflected in a certain way in legal thinking, legal awareness, and the content of the legal culture of legal subjects. The introduction of legal legality and strengthening a proper legal order also cannot proceed outside the natural orientation to the heights of the legal ideal" ^{[39, p. 52]}. R. Pound confirms this thesis in his works, pointing out that lawyers may use ideals to choose applicable legal norms and how they are interpreted ^{[58, p. 78]}. Therefore, one cannot agree with one of A. I. Prigozhin's thesis is that "the thirst to introduce the ‘ideal’ directly into the practice of social life brings only disasters and cataclysms" ^{[59, p. 121]}.

When characterizing the political and legal ideal, researchers also make various judgments about the relationship of such a model with existing contradictions in society. For example, according to P.A. Rachkov's theoretical position, the ideal presupposes such a model of the future in which there is an "absolute overcoming of contradictions between the individual and society" ^{[60, pp. 24–25]}. On the contrary, according to S.N. Bulgakov, ideally, there cannot but be a "struggle of the individual with society" ^{[61, p. 307]} since "absolute perfection... is unattainable in the conditions of empirical existence" ^{[61, p. 307]}. As a result, the political and legal ideal does not act as a "paradise on earth" ^{[61, p. 307]}. P.A. Ol also draws attention to the fact that "people create for themselves images of such a legal reality, within which the existing, oppressive social contradictions seem to be overcome, ‘removed,’ reality appears to be ‘cleansed’ of contradictions" ^{[34, p. 160]}. A.V. Butakov makes a similar judgment: "Society, realizing the existence of a social contradiction, purposefully forms appropriate ways (rules) to overcome them to ensure its progressive development" ^{[62, p. 12]}.

The issue under consideration should be based on the following position. Indeed, as P.A. Ol and A.V. Butakov correctly note, the existing contradictions can be considered one of the sources of the formation of the political and legal ideal. This directly follows from the mentioned property of the criticality of the political and legal ideal. At the same time, adequately constructed political and legal ideals should contain the idea of the constant occurrence of contradictions in society. This is especially true for complex models proposed by state and law theory specialists, philosophy of law, sociology, and other sciences where public relations modeling is carried out. After all, without contradictions, social interaction will become monolithic, and the observer and participant will be represented as one subject. In general, this follows from the fundamental law of dialectics about the unity and struggle of opposites. As S.V. Murasheva points out, "A conflict-free society is unattainable as the complete disappearance of conflict will lead to its stagnation... Contradictions are a source of social development since any resolution leads to societal change" ^{[63, p. 158]}. Therefore, including the immanence of the existence of contradictions in society is one of the essential prerequisites for correctly forming the content of the political and legal ideal.

Considering the numerous and multidimensional, including the mentioned scientific works, it seems possible for us to use an approach to the study of the political and legal ideal category based on the following conclusions and provisions.

Firstly, such a model is one of the whole society, that is, the entire reality of people, which is subject to sovereign power. We are talking about simultaneously taking into account the positions of D. Austin and D. Easton that any society is politically organized, including through the development of imperative norms by its leadership and their implementation ^{[64, p. 148; 65, p. 89–90; 66]}.

Secondly, the political and legal ideal in the historical prism is a generic concept that includes the ideal of local hunter-gatherer groups and independent villages of farmers and pastoralists, the ideal of chiefdoms, and the ideal of the state as a modern political organization.

Thirdly, the legal ideal is part of the political and legal ideal. This is because law is considered part of society ^{[67, p. 9–10]}. I.A. Treushnikov and E.V. Gryaznova’s position that "law is an element of the managerial sphere is justified from this point of view. Therefore, the structure of the legal ideal should be considered based on the structure of this sphere itself" ^{[68, p. 34]}. In turn, the political-legal ideal itself is a part of the current law, and in the structure of legal consciousness, the political-legal ideal belongs to legal ideology. Taking into account that legal awareness can be defined as an "ideological source of law," as V.A. Rybakov points out ^{[69, p. 6]}, the political and legal ideal can also be attributed to "ideological sources of law."

Fourthly, the correct construction of the political and legal ideal includes the idea of the inevitability of societal contradictions in its content. The latter is naturally not only always present in society but is also a necessary prerequisite for its improvement and development. Therefore, agreeing with the researchers who support this position is necessary.

Fifth, the content of the political and legal ideal includes consideration of three groups of necessary patterns. The first and main group is typical for any state, the second is only for a group of states united by a single goal, and the third is patterns that are exclusive to a particular state. For example, the following can be attributed to the first group: the presence of unity of interests of all persons belonging to the society for which the political and legal ideal is being formed; ensuring work; implementing communication sufficient for survival and improvement; maintaining peace, including mechanisms for finding social balances and compromises; people's knowledge of themselves and the environment; and the use of scientific knowledge for self-preservation and progress.

Of course, the selected groups in each specified society exist in an interconnected unity. Their separation from each other is possible only abstractly and theoretically. In addition, it is important to understand that the patterns established by science for any state are fundamental and unchangeable and are limited only by the possibility of human cognition. On the contrary, establishing patterns for groups of states or one particular state entity is more applied in nature, allowing for better legal regulation at a specific stage of development for a certain social organism. In other words, these patterns in their nature allow for the possibility of their disappearance over time due to the disappearance of the grounds for their criticism.

Finally, formulating the concept of a political and legal ideal, the latter is proposed to be understood as a model of a politically organized society and law, which ensures the survival, improvement, and development of a social organism with the help of legal norms and serves, in addition, as a goal implemented in legal regulation. At the same time, specific political and legal ideals are characterized by varying degrees of manifestation of criticality, perspective, projectivity, rationality, and regularity.

At the present stage, the content of the political and legal ideal, among other ideas, implies the formation of a model of society as the most advanced and secure in the world, surpassing others in terms of professionalism, health, education, and general culture, as well as enriching the system of satisfying the needs of all its members. Achieving such a situation becomes possible if, on an ever-increasing scale, the state begins to use the benefits of global cooperation. This is due directly to society's development patterns, including the need for the distribution of labor, social communication, and the assurance of universal security. E.A. Frolova rightly draws attention to the "need to construct a universal legal ideal" ^{[37, pp. 452, 449]}, as this will unite many population groups regardless of their political or cultural associations.

For this reason, implementing restrictive measures or rejecting international cooperation ultimately leads to a decrease in the people’s standard of living, not only for citizens of the State against which such measures are imposed but also for citizens of countries that apply such policies. For example, after introducing sanctions against Russia in 2022–2023, compared with previous periods, aggregate real incomes and consumption in the EU countries showed negative dynamics ^{[70, p. 6]}. Moreover, such measures have other negative consequences, including increasing the risk burden on investments ^{[71, p. 155]}, cessation of scientific and cultural exchange, and reduced participation in solving global problems.

Of course, for participants in international relations, there is always a need to protect the population's cultural identity and preserve technological independence, a moderate policy of protectionism, and protection of the national interests of their state. Therefore, applying the political and legal ideals should be carried out with a proper level of elaboration on specific state and legal decisions. In such cases, at a minimum, it is necessary to analyze the consequences of the decisions taken regarding further improvement or deterioration of people's lives.

The study of the political and legal ideal is accompanied by many other problems that require detailed presentation and analysis. At the same time, the provisions that make up its content should not conflict with the indicated mandatory laws for the functioning of society. The proposed approach to understanding and constructing the political and legal ideal will ensure the self-preservation and progress of the state and law.