System-synergetic approach to studying the essence of state power

This article is devoted to the problem of cognition and understanding of the essence of state power. Actualization is carried out by searching for a new paradigm approach in order to determine the fundamental principles that are correlated with the idea to optimize and increase the efficiency of the corresponding sphere of public relations. Acting as an alternative to the substantial and relativistic approach to the study of state power, the system-synergetic approach analyzes the phenomenon of “power” based on the definition of “system”, within which the functions of communication and regulation of public relations are assigned to power. As a result, power is seen as a property or function of a social, in particular, political system, the need for which is determined by the presence of society itself and the task of maintaining its integrity. The analysis allows stating that in most modern concepts there is a consistent rejection of the traditional interpretation of power as the result of subject-object relations, where the subject of power is an active, energetic principle, and the object undergoes impact. In contrast to the position of traditionalism, there is a tendency to interpret power as a complex polysystem permeating the entire social structure of society. As a structural and synergistic effect of the system, power is not a property of its individual element, since each element must certainly be correlated with other units of the given system. Power is an intrasystem relatedness of all elements. As a structural principle, power is realized on the basis of equivalent exchange, which means not the equivalence of the exchanged elements, but a situation in which one element is unconceivable without the other, i.e. one element exists in relation to the other, and co-develops with it. Thus, power really fulfills the function of streamlining socio-political ties, making their separation and differentiation expedient. Power, therefore, is the beginning, creating structures, increasing heterogeneities in a continuous social environment and connecting them together. Such a view allows interpreting power as a principle of functioning of the state system: if the state system, with the help of some value proposition, manages to reproduce the corresponding content of consciousness, then it functions quite stably.