SOCIOECONOMIC SECURITY OF A REGION AS AN OBJECT IN ECONOMIC SECURITY STUDIES AT THE MESOLEVEL

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to determine the key object in economic security studies at the mesolevel of regional socioeconomic security, as well as explain its genesis, contents, causes for emergence, and topicality. Methodology. Research on the socioeconomic security of a region is carried out within the ontological frameworks of post-non-classical science, one of the key features of which is strongly collective nature of scientific and ontological activities, consensual nature of scientific knowledge and also methodological pluralism. The latter predetermines active use of immanent and contextual approaches. Their parallel use has enabled determining the internal essence of the notion “socioeconomic security of a region” from the standpoint of one of the key approaches to economic security studies – activity-based one. The results of the carried out research have revealed that the category “socioeconomic security of a region” cannot be considered as a merger of two definitions – “social security of a region” and “economic security of a region”. The connection between these two definitions is of much more complex nature: socioeconomic security of a region emerges on the edge between economic security of a region as a quasi-corporation and social security of a region as an institute of interests’ protection and demands’ satisfaction for region’s population. It is offered to consider socioeconomic security of a region as a combination of economic and social conditions, which is providing certain social guarantees for state responsibilities and for a certain level of comfort inside a region on the basis of regional authorities’ support, within their level and volume of competences, for economic activities of regional business agents, making sure at the same time that production activity of these agents does not cause damages to the regional environment. Economic security forms the basis for the category “socioeconomic security of a region”, while social security is its additional upper structure. Practical implications. Contents of the category “socioeconomic security of a region” serves as the starting point for the development of principles and means for its provision and evaluation, system building and objectification of regional economic security, all processes and mechanisms within security-providing activities of regional management, their actions taken on prevention of insecure development of events and situations, which are destroying the whole socioeconomic system of a region, thus hindering its adequate functioning. The results of studying the genesis and the contents of the notion “socioeconomic security of a region” serve as the explanatory basis for economic security studies at the mesolevel, the key features of which are consensual nature of scientific knowledge, collective ways of the research activities, as well as their contextuality. Value/originality. Prior to this study, economic security studies have never considered the socioeconomic security of a region as the crossroads of economic security of a region as a quasi-corporation and social security of a region as an institute protecting interests and satisfying demands of the population within a region. The offered here approach to socioeconomic security of a region sets brand new vectors in economic security research on its mesolevel.