IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/aiy/jnjaer/v21y2022i3p604-636.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Social Contract Phenomenon: Evolution of Concepts and Modern Interpretations

Author

Listed:
  • Evgeny V. Balatsky
  • Natalia A. Ekimova

Abstract

The aim of the article is to systematically consider the conceptual foundations of the process of formation and maintenance of the social contract, its properties and meaning. The paper uses historical and structural approaches to the study of the phenomenon of social contract in conjunction with their practical application to contemporary events. The result of the study is the authors' substantiation and disclosure of six provisions of the social contract theory. In particular, it provides a systematic explanation of why the understanding of justice underlying the social contract changes significantly over time. The structure of the social contract, which assumes the presence of a constant (obligations of the population) and a variable (obligations of the authorities) part, is substantiated. It is shown that the constant part in the form of the population's loyalty allows the state itself to be preserved over a long historical period, and the variable part in the form of changing requirements to the authorities ensures the evolution of society. Two conditions of the effectiveness of the social contract, when the fulfillment of obligations by both sides of the contract leads to the strengthening of the country and improvement of the situation of the masses, are formulated and formalized: the level of obligations of the supreme power and society should be approximately equal; the luggage of good deeds of power should exceed the luggage of its not-so-good deeds. It is shown that the first condition generates the property of the social contract, when under extraordinary conditions the demand for loyalty from the authorities to the population sharply increases, and the second condition allows us to understand the long-term existence of ineffective regimes of rule such as dictatorship, when despotism in the face of an authoritarian ruler does more good than harm. The main conclusion of the work consists in the substantiation of the fact that at present in the Russian Federation there is a unique situation for the creation of an effective new the social contract, the need for which has been felt for a long time. The presented theoretical provisions can be used in the system of public administration to form the content of the new social contract.

Suggested Citation

  • Evgeny V. Balatsky & Natalia A. Ekimova, 2022. "Social Contract Phenomenon: Evolution of Concepts and Modern Interpretations," Journal of Applied Economic Research, Graduate School of Economics and Management, Ural Federal University, vol. 21(3), pages 604-636.
    • Handle: RePEc:aiy:jnjaer:v:21:y:2022:i:3:p:604-636
    DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15826/vestnik.2022.21.3.021
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journalaer.ru//fileadmin/user_upload/site_15934/2022/07_Balackii_Ekimova.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/http://dx.doi.org/10.15826/vestnik.2022.21.3.021?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ibrahim, Solava, 2021. "The dynamics of the Egyptian social contract: How the political changes affected the poor," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    2. Congleton, Roger D., 2020. "The institutions of international treaty organizations as evidence for social contract theory," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Belaïd, Fateh & Flambard, Véronique, 2023. "Impacts of income poverty and high housing costs on fuel poverty in Egypt: An empirical modeling approach," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    2. Ragui Assaad & Caroline Krafft & Colette Salemi, 2023. "Socioeconomic Status and the Changing Nature of School-to-Work Transitions in Egypt, Jordan, and Tunisia," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 76(4), pages 697-723, August.
    3. Zhuo Wenjun, 2023. "Circulation Expectations, Farmer Trust, and Farmers’ Contract Choice Behavior," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-15, August.
    4. Roger D. Congleton, 2020. "Ethics and good governance," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 184(3), pages 379-398, September.
    5. Barbara Dluhosch & Daniel Horgos, 2024. "Clubbing in trade policies: How much a threat to the multilateral constitution?," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 35(4), pages 461-481, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    exit-voice-loyalty concept; narrow corridor concept; social contract; skin in the game; social contract.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B15 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought through 1925 - - - Historical; Institutional; Evolutionary
    • B52 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches - - - Historical; Institutional; Evolutionary; Modern Monetary Theory;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:aiy:jnjaer:v:21:y:2022:i:3:p:604-636. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Natalia Starodubets (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/seurfru.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.