THEORETICAL AND HISTORICAL PREREQUISITES FOR THE FORMING OF THE CONCEPT OF «WELFARE STATE»

The article discusses the views of scientists on the historical prerequisites for the formation of the theoretical concept of the «welfare state». The general principles of building a national economy on the basis of the growth of the welfare of the nation were developed already by ancient thinkers and were in some way developed in the Middle Ages. It is determined that the concept of «welfare state» has become relatively integral only in the twentieth century. According to the main postulates of this concept, the state is obliged to maintain equal rights for all citizens and social strata, to ensure full employment, to create new jobs, to implement social assistance programs for people in difficult life situations, to guarantee social and economic stability, to create conditions for self-determination of the individual through its power. It is shown that the state should contribute to the economic and social progress of all its citizens, since it is in this sense that we can talk about a social state, because on this basis the civil society of the welfare state is formed. It has been proved that the ultimate goal of the «welfare state» is to maintain socio-political stability, achieve sustainable economic growth, form a system of social protection of the population, reduce the severity of social inequality by providing all citizens with the same opportunities for a decent existence. The article substantiated that the introduction of a constitutionally enshrined state strategy for the country's development should lead to the fact that the purpose of state policy will be to develop such a model of a socially oriented market economy, in which conscious and gradual improvement of the welfare of citizens is the main value priority of the socio-economic dynamics of the country. A scientific approach to the development, definition and implementation of the state strategic program for the development of the «welfare state» in Ukraine as a single line of action of all governments of the country in the near and long term is proposed, which will provide the society with a single criterion for assessing the effectiveness of any level of public administration — the result achieved, that is, the increase in the welfare of all citizens of the country.