Modern rule of law: Basic approaches to understanding

The modern state governed by the rule of law in the Western legal tradition differs in a number of characteristics (instrumental and substantive), firstly, from its retrospective analogues (for example, the states of the Middle Ages), and secondly, from the understanding and perception of the state in other legal (and cultural) traditions, for example, Islamic. In addition, the process of globalisation and other features of the 21st century require mainly new approaches to understanding the state as a social phenomenon, the relevance of which remains despite significant improvements on this issue in Soviet and Ukrainian legal science. During the Soviet era, one of the most fundamental was the work of V. O. Tenenbaum “The State: a System of Categories” (1971), however, like other works of this period; its content was built on the opposition of the essence of the socialist and bourgeois states. The purpose of this paper is to study the phenomenon of the modern state and analyse the main scientific approaches to understanding its essence. The methodology of this study is an analysis of the main approaches to understanding the modern state, its essential features and the conditions of its establishment. The problems of state activity that are important for the current conditions of its functioning, in particular, the efficiency of the state, are also considered. The features (theories) of the state found in international law are investigated separately. The implementation of the Montevideo Convention of 1933 established the following four characteristics of a state: 1) a permanent population; 2) a designated territory; 3) own government; 4) capacity to enter into relations with the other states. The paper highlights the phenomenon of semi-sovereign states. Special attention is paid to the investigation of the phenomenon of the modern (national) state, which was formed in the era of bourgeois revolutions and how significantly different from previous types of state, such features as the foundation of the state in the territorial cultural space and the nation to which free citizens belong; the transformation of society into a civil society with the principle of equality and prohibition of privileges. Despite significant scientific developments in the study of this problem, the need for further investigation of the essence of this phenomenon is urgent, taking into account the realities of the beginning of the 21st century.