“Big challenges” as a factor of transformation of state-legal relations

Introduction: in recent years the “big challenges” category has rapidly come into language use. From the word combination of a prognostic-journalistic nature, the expression has penetrated normative legal acts, becoming a legal categorythat can potentially change social relations. However, in legal acts and a fairly small catalog of legal scientific publications, this construct is considered through the prism of socio-economic relations; its legal essence and possible state-legal transformations that may follow it are not highlighted. Purpose: to give an overview of the “big challenges” category through its genesis, transformation, and through the prism of legal realities. Methods: the methodological framework for the study was made up of general scientific methods - analysis and synthesis, as well as specific scientific methods - formal-legal and comparative-legal. Results: big challenges, initially referring to the category of scientific knowledge of the IT sphere, are subsequently used concerning a wide group of public relations, finding their consolidation in the program documents of an international and national nature. At the domestic level, acts are not only a declaration of intent but also a mandatory work plan for public authorities. In Russia, the final consolidation of the term “big challenges” in public-legal rhetoric took place in 2016, which led to the introduction of changes or the appearance of new legal acts of a planned nature. Conclusions: despite the legal definition of “big challenges” in the Strategy of Scientific and Technological Development of the Russian Federation, there is still no legal description of the institution under consideration, although it carries huge legal potential, including in the field of public administration, laying the foundations for such a promising way of influencing social relations as smart regulation. An attempt is made to define “big challenges” in the legal discourse.