Risks of Russia's welfare state development in the context of the latest technology for people-government cooperation

The study discusses the impact of the latest technology on the interaction between the authorities and people in the post-industrial society. The paper focuses on the fact that communication technology poses serious risks to the welfare state in the Russian Federation. The institution of the welfare state has resulted from the increased conflicts and risks of social relations in the early industrial society. As humanity evolved and there was a gradual shift to the fifth technological paradigm, it became possible to make a great breakthrough in communication technology. On the one hand, communication technology has undermined society’s stability and sustainability resulting in the phenomenon of dispersed power and questioned the effectiveness of the social and political institutions of the early industrial era. On the other hand, this technology has made it possible to considerably transform the institution of the welfare state that gets novel opportunities to become the institution of social cooperation and its citizens’ solidarity. However, a new e-infrastructure of society-government cooperation poses the following risks and threats to the establishment of Russia’s welfare state: information resource is a substitute for real management practices in relation to people-government interaction; people gain social benefits and rights because of their allocation rather than a dialog with the authorities based on economic expediency and the threat of social upheaval; administrative bodies depend on the position of the most active and selfish minorities on different issues. Other risks are considered as well. Nevertheless, the authors conclude that further development of Russia’s welfare state implies the adaptation of social and political institutions to new contexts instead of the abolition of new technology.