The transformation of the higher education system and future risks for the welfare state in the Russian Federation

The study discusses the welfare state development in the Russian Federation. The type of the welfare state depends on the long historical evolution of the state as an institution, its adaptation to changes in social relations in the industrial society. The welfare state was founded because of the need to fend off new social risks that did not exist in the agrarian society. Any society is capable of being a system that passes through certain stages of its development and interacts with the environment. While developing, society regularly finds itself in risky and unstable situations. Risk is an immanent feature of a complex and dynamic society. In the authors’ opinion, the Russian model of the welfare state was strongly affected by the rental economy. A nascent crisis of the rental economy is demanding the country’s transition to innovative ways of development. However, the transition has not still been the reality because of many reasons. They include the crisis of the domestic education system incapable of proper interacting with the rental economy. The decisions to reduce state-financed university admissions which have been taken over the past ten years can generate both economic problems and societal risks. These risks can block the development of the welfare state in the Russian Federation for the next decade.