TRADITIONAL STATE AND DECENTRALIZATION TECHNOLOGIES: FEATURES OF IDEOLOGICAL TRANSFORMATIONS IN THE DIGITAL ERA
https://doi.org/10.18384/2224-0209-2025-3-1611
Abstract
Aim. To reveal the ideological nature of digital decentralization as a systemic challenge to traditional state sovereignty and to identify risks for modern states amid technological transformation.
Methodology. The core of the study comprises an analysis of key digital decentralization ideologies (crypto-anarchism, cyber-syndicalism, cypherpunk), their technological foundations, and implementation practices. A comparative analysis of foundational manifestos by crypto-anarchists and cypherpunks (T. May, E. Hughes) was conducted, and the evolution of decentralized movements was synthesized.
Results. The analysis demonstrated that the synergy of technologies and extra-systemic ideologies creates parallel governance systems undermining the state’s monopoly on regulating finance, information, law, and the exercise of power. Threats to modern states include: erosion of trust in institutions, use of decentralized digital resources for protest mobilization, sanctions evasion via cryptocurrencies, and increased citizen registrations in virtual jurisdictions operating beyond national law.
Research implications. Proposals for state adaptation are formulated: shifting from technology bans to dialogue with IT communities and developing preventive measures. The author introduces an original interpretation of digital decentralization as “engineering autocracy”, where algorithmic power replaces political-legal mechanisms. The study reframes issues of state sovereignty in the context of competition with decentralized anti-systems.
About the Author
Sergey V. Volodenkov
Lomonosov Moscow State University
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Dr. Sci. (Politology), Prof., Department of State Policy, Faculty of Political Sciences
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