Abstract

The complex of social and political risks that accompany the processes of virtualization of the modern state is determined. It is shown that the virtualization of the state as a modern trend of civilizational development is conditioned by the expansion of influence of network structures on the process of adoption and implementation of decisions of the state power and the gradual degradation of traditional political institutions. It is emphasized that in post-Soviet societies, virtualization of the state is burdened with modernization processes of informatization and networking, which actualize various risks both in traditional structures and institutions, and in the network structures themselves. It is noted that network structures, by their influence on political processes, are ambivalent – they are neither dangerous nor safe. Therefore, only the potentials of state virtualization risks depend on the nature of the networks. It has been found out that network structures in certain circumstances can not only contribute to the formation of new, dynamic social communities and identity systems, but also lead to the disintegration of existing social groups, the emergence of protest, fundamentalist, anti-globalist, and the like. movements. It is determined that the main source of socio-political risks of virtualization of the state is that the elements of the state-political system are reflected in the information political space, as a result of which traditional political institutions are replaced by their simulations. Such changes in the functioning of the state can lead to serious negative consequences – to the destruction of the spiritual world of man, the breaking of established social ties and the formation of «network individualism», the removal of moral barriers, the fall of responsibility, etc. It is emphasized that in the post-Soviet space the risks of virtualization of the state become hybrid in nature, because they are actualized in three spheres: in the work of information and communication technologies, in the functioning of the political regime, in the activities of institutions civil society. It is proved that in conditions of state virtualization, the processes of implementation and functioning of the e-democracy system are especially risk-sensitive. In particular, at the stage of implementation of e-democracy in the post-Soviet space, the risks of manipulating the results of citizens’ willpower in elections at various levels are actualized; stratification of society by those who owns and does not possess information; increased influence in the society of criminalized and extremist groups; the split of multifaceted societies, the lines of demarcation which are caused not by the socio-economic status of the recipients, but by their mental characteristics, burdened with post-colonial thinking. At the stage of e-democracy functioning, the risks of digital inequality are actualized; high complexity of network tools; low throughput of the e-democracy system; reducing the level of trust in the e-democracy system by the public and business; information security.