The concept of “smart regulation” as an instrumental component of sustainable development

Introduction: today, there is an interest in the problems of Western legal science in our scientific community, due to its great desire to solve specific social problems and tasks in comparison with the domestic academic tradition, focused more on essentialist problems about the essence of law and the state, their forms, purpose, ultimate foundations, laws, etc. One of such instrumentalist concepts of Western discourse is the concept of “smart regulation”. The purpose of the paper is a theoretical understanding of the key aspects of this concept. Methods: analytical, deductive, comparison, generalization. Results: the origins of the formation, the essence, principles, means and procedures of the concept are revealed. The role and significance of the effect that allows designating any regulation as “smart” are revealed. Conclusions: the traditional legal regulation based on the ideology of vertically integrated structures with rigid centralization of the political and economic system can be supplemented and balanced by the principles and achievements, means and procedures of the concept of “smart regulation” for the common good. Without such a combination of approaches to the regulation, it is not possible in modern conditions of a highly integrated world economic system to harmonize the social interests of various groups around one goal: the growth of public welfare.