Economic security theory: stages of development and transition to a new reality

The process of formation and development of the theory of economic security is objectively related to the cyclical nature of economic development. Economic security as a phenomenon is of little interest to researchers in prosperous periods of economic activities. On the contrary, during periods of economic crises, scientific analysis of the risks and threats to the national economy in foreign markets and the reasons for the decline in the efficiency of domestic production comes to the fore. The article examines the stages of the formation and development of theoretical research in the field of economic security in the works of Western scientists, starting from the 1930s of the twentieth century, and also Russian researchers and practitioners from the 1990s up to the present. Particular attention is paid to changes in the economic security of the trends in today’s pandemic crisis and developing based on its structural and civilizational crisis in the world economy. The article substantiates that today almost all countries perceive the social factor not as a kind of addition to ensuring national economic security, but as its priority component. World political leaders, members of the public, entrepreneurs are clearly aware and widely discussing the existence of a contradiction between social and economic interests within the framework of such a phenomenon as “national economic security.” And now there is an active search for opportunities to remove this contradiction. The current situation inevitably requires clarification of the actual and potential threats to economic security for modern Russia, and the adoption of appropriate measures to prevent and neutralize them. The article also discusses the possibility of including the system of state monitoring, assessment and countering threats to socio-economic development for modern Russia in the existing institutions of state regulation at the federal and subfederal levels.