legal foundations for ensuring national security.
Some aspects of the outlined problem were
discussed by the authors in previous scientific
articles. (Vlasenko et al., 2020; Onyshchuk et al.,
2020; Chernysh et al., 2020; Chernysh et al.,
2022; Kostenko et al., 2021; Shilin et al., 2022).
Based on the analysis of available sources, it can
be argued that little attention has been paid to the
theoretical and legal foundations of
implementing state policy on ensuring national
security in Ukraine. Therefore, in today's
conditions, there is an urgent need to justify and
define the conceptual principles of implementing
state policy on ensuring national security,
including its essential features and constituent
elements, legal forms and means.
Results and discussion
In order to carry out its functions, which are
divided into internal and external, the state uses
specific means (resources of state power) and
relies on a complex of special bodies that
together make up the relevant executive
mechanism of the state. Ukraine implements its
function of ensuring national security through the
corresponding policy. From our perspective,
state policy is a system of ideas, actions, and
relationships of subjects of state policy regarding
the formation, formulation, and implementation
of state interests. State interests are the conscious
state needs of subjects of state policy for the
realization of national values (Shilin et a., 2022).
In our opinion, the essential features of state
policy are as follows:
− it constitutes a purposeful action - activity /
inactivity (in some cases it may be
manifested in the form of abstention from
actions, such as not participating in certain
political blocs, international agreements,
contracts, etc.) aimed at solving socially
important problems in a certain sphere of the
state's vital activity;
− its goal is to ensure sustainable development
of society and the state as a whole or of
individual spheres of their vital activity;
− it is formed and implemented by the state in
the interests of the state and society;
− it has a mandatory nature;
− it is of a complex, systemic character;
− it is a legal category based on the provisions
of the current legislation, primarily in
accordance with constitutional principles;
− it is established through the adoption of
corresponding program documents in the
form of separate normative legal acts
(doctrines, strategies, concepts, laws);
− it involves influencing social relations
through appropriate forces and means, forms
and methods;
− it is based on the results of analysis of a
specific situation in a certain sphere of the
country's vital activity;
− it has a legitimate and legal character;
− its executive subjects are both state bodies
and non-governmental organizations, public
associations;
− it is implemented through certain forces and
means, forms and methods based on
constitutional principles.
Based on the above, we consider it possible to
define state policy as a purposeful, systematic,
legislatively regulated action aimed at solving
socially important problems identified through
analysis, by influencing other relevant entities
through certain forces and means, forms and
methods grounded on constitutional principles
and social relations, with the aim of ensuring
sustainable development of society and the state
as a whole, or of individual areas of their life
activities.
The essence of state policy in ensuring national
security lies in the formation and implementation
of a corresponding system of influence on certain
areas of the state's life activities, aimed at
guaranteeing its safe functioning and sustainable
development (Shilin et al., 2022).
Various forms of state policy implementation are
used to achieve the defined goal of the state
policy. There is no unanimous opinion on them
in the theory of security studies. In particular, in
our opinion, the position of Avakian T. looks
contradictory in this regard. Thus, in one case, he
argues that "the state policy is implemented in
two forms: state (since the relevant bodies are
public authorities) and public (which consists in
the participation of citizens in the
implementation of local government)". At the
same time, he believes that, depending on the
legal status and legislative basis, the state policy
can be implemented "in various forms, such as
legislative, law enforcement, administration of
justice and determination of the limits of legal
responsibility for a committed offense,
referendum, rallies, elections, etc.". Otherwise,
according to him, it is advisable to distinguish
legal (lawmaking, rulemaking, law enforcement)
and democratic (participation of non-state actors,
public control, the dominance of the interests of
the people, etc.) forms of security policy
implementation (Avakian, 2015). In addition, he