Business-Government Relations (GR) as a Problem Field of Modern Political Science: Theoretical Issues

This article is devoted to defining the main types of GR practices (GR strategies) and establishing methodological principles of relations between the state and business. Using such methods as historical retrospective, discursive analysis, case study, typology, network approach, formal legal method, literal interpretation of legal norms, the author reveals the historical prerequisites for the isolation of GR as an independent type of political relations, carries out a typology of GR relations, establishes mechanisms for the implementation of GR projects, determines the vectors of the teleological component in close contacts between the state and business, identifies and characterizes the priority model of government relations in modern Russian political practices. The article proposes a typology of GR relations depending on such division bases as the object of influence, scale, degree of alarmism, and degree of transparency. The mechanisms for implementing GR projects are revealed – direct interaction with government bodies, interaction through the expert community, media relations, corporate social responsibility, support for political activities. Two main formats of cooperative cooperation implemented in Russia are identified: concession agreements and public-private partnership agreements. It is noted that the GR model, despite attempts to understand it through a network approach, has an inevitable asymmetry, since the state, as a participant in GR communications, acts as one of the equal parties to the contact, but at the same time retains the right to coercive influence on economic agents. It is summarized that close contacts between the state and business pursue a whole range of multidirectional goals – from ensuring social sustainability and compliance with legislation to implementing strategic projects and reproducing entrepreneurial activity. The author’s position is proposed, according to which interaction between the state and economic agents can occur through formal autonomization of a legal entity, reduced autonomization, full autonomy.