Functions of the state and missed opportunities for socio-economic progress during the pandemic

The unique feature of the problem field studied in this article is linked with the fact that during the COVID-19 pandemic representatives of almost all societies witnessed failures of the state. These failures included lockdowns and social distancing at the first stage of the pandemic as well as fast growth of the number of infected and lethal cases at the second stage. It is shown in the article that waves of the pandemic which followed each other accompanied by inability of the countries to prevent them aggravated the problems of economic growth and social instability. The article proves that the coronavirus pandemic unveiled state’s failures both in economic and social policies. The deepening societal crisis caused by citizens’ impoverishment, unemployment growth and absence of a clear perspective of when the pandemic would end and the new post-COVID reality would take shape, made theorists and practitioners return to the phenomenon of modern state which seemed unexplored by the early 2020’s. The author has offered a theoretical framework for prioritizations of the state’s functions. This framework presumes that two out of three groups of the state’s functions, linked with allocation of resources and economic stabilization, mutually define each other, though with a certain share of controversy. This stems from the controversial nature of the state itself and its functions.