The essence and purpose of the social state in the context of the legal experience of modern Ukraine: theoretical and legal analysis
Authors: Polesov S. S. 
Published: April 2024

The concept of the social state is one of the elements of the constitutional identity of Ukraine. In the context of the Constitution of Ukraine, the social state is endowed with a number of important legal features and characteristics that can be distinguished on the basis of a systematic analysis of constitutional norms, where the concept of the social state is directly mentioned. This concept is included among the fundamental legal characteristics of the Ukrainian state and, at the same time, among the defining characteristics of the Ukrainian constitutional system. It is presented in the Constitution of Ukraine in an extremely generalized form, without specifying the manifestations of the social state, its features, functions, tasks, etc. The characteristics of the Ukrainian state as a social state cannot be changed in any other way than by amending the Constitution of Ukraine in a particularly complicated constitutional procedure. Any changes in the constitutional and legislative organization of state power or in its implementation should not take place if they are inconsistent with the legal nature of Ukraine as a social state, or directly or indirectly contradict the essence and purpose of the social state as such.

The characteristic of the Ukrainian state as a social one is used in the constitutional text as independent, separate, self-sufficient next to other similar, but not identical in the legal sense, characteristics of the same state, such as “democratic” and “legal”. At the same time, the concept of a social state cannot be identified with the concepts of a democratic or legal state, nor can it be defined through them, through their signs, features, and manifestations. The simultaneous application in relation to Ukraine of its constitutional definition as a social state and, next to it, as a democratic and legal state leads to the presence of complex relationships between these characteristics, where each of them acts as an independent manifestation of the current and prospective state existence of Ukraine, but at the same time, all these manifestations have a constitutional and legal character and reflect a certain section of the essence of this state.

It should be emphasized that there is an essential connection between the existence of the social state and the functional purpose of the Constitution of Ukraine: the latter, as follows from its preamble, is aimed, in particular, at the development and strengthening of the social state in Ukraine. The concept of the development and strengthening of the social state indicates the constitutionally defined context of its dynamic existence: the existing model of the social state, being a constant and defining legal characteristic of the state of Ukraine, is nevertheless not stable in the constitutional sense, it needs its development and strengthening, first, in the interests of the Ukrainian people, secondly, in a direction that should not lead to distortion of the essence and purpose of the social state, distortion or emasculation of its essence and purpose, thirdly, such development and strengthening should take place within the framework defined by the Constitution of Ukraine.