THE TRANSFORMATION OF POLITICAL AND LEGAL DOCTRINES CONCERNING THE STATE AND LAW IN THE CONTEXT OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE DEVELOPMENT: THE EUROPEAN FRAMEWORK FOR ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE GOVERNANCE

Abstract

The article is devoted to a comprehensive
analysis of the transformation of political and legal
doctrines concerning the state and law under the
influence of the rapid advancement of artificial
intelligence (AI) technologies in the 21st century.
Within the framework of the history of political and
legal teachings, the author explores the evolution of
classical doctrines, focusing on key concepts such as
Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s theory of the social contract,
Thomas Hobbes’s notion of absolute sovereignty, and
John Locke’s liberal ideas of limited government and
natural rights protection. These foundational theories
were inherently anthropocentric, positioning humans
as the sole bearers of political will, moral
responsibility, and rational agency in the organization
of power, state institutions, and legal order.
The emergence and widespread application of AI
systems introduce profound doctrinal challenges.
Autonomous algorithmic decision-making in critical
spheres—public administration, judicial processes,
law enforcement, and social services—raises
fundamental questions about the limits of delegating
authority to non-human entities, the preservation of
state sovereignty in an era of distributed technological
power, and the redefinition of accountability when
decisions stem from opaque "black box" processes
rather than individual human judgment. These
developments compel a reevaluation of traditional
concepts of responsibility (shifting from personalized
to systemic), sovereignty (acquiring a functional
rather than absolute character), and the rule of law in
the context of algorithmic rationality.
The European concept of AI governance,
codified in the European Union Artificial Intelligence
Act (Regulation (EU) 2024/1689)—the world’s first
comprehensive risk-based regulatory framework—
serves as a pivotal case study for this transformation.
As of January 2026, the Act is in progressive
implementation: it entered into force on August 1,
2024; prohibitions on unacceptable-risk practices
(e.g., manipulative social scoring or real-time
biometric identification in public spaces without
exceptions) have applied since February 2, 2025;
obligations for general-purpose AI models (GPAI)
took effect on August 2, 2025; forthcoming milestones
include EU Commission guidelines on post-market
monitoring (Article 6) by February 2, 2026, and full
enforceability of high-risk system requirements from
August 2, 2026 onward, encompassing rigorous
obligations for risk assessment, human oversight,
transparency, robustness, and accountability of
providers and deployers.
This regulatory paradigm represents a novel
doctrinal construct: it preserves core principles of the
rule of law, proportionality, and fundamental rights
protection while introducing a hybrid governance
model that integrates preventive, risk-oriented state
intervention with technological rationality. Central to
this model is the principle of human-centric AI,
ensuring meaningful human oversight and preventing
unchecked algorithmic autonomy.
For Ukraine, amid its European integration
aspirations, adopting elements of this model holds
both normative and doctrinal significance. National
strategies—including the Concept of Artificial
Intelligence Development in Ukraine until 2030 and
the Action Plan for 2025–2026—explicitly prioritize
legislative harmonization with the EU AI Act,
embedding ethical guidelines, security standards, and
innovation promotion. This alignment offers an
opportunity to modernize domestic political-legal
doctrines, fostering concepts such as "digital
sovereignty" and systemic responsibility tailored to
Ukraine’s context.
Employing a comparative historical-legal
method, the author substantiates the evolutionary
character of the ongoing transformation: AI does not
negate or dismantle classical doctrines but enriches
them with a layer of technological governance,
adapting anthropocentric foundations to the realities
of socio-technical systems. The study concludes that a
holistic historical-doctrinal approach is essential for
constructing contemporary theories of state and law
capable of balancing technological progress with the
protection of human dignity and democratic values.
The findings underscore the broader importance
of reconciling innovation with fundamental rights in
the digital age, providing valuable insights for
legislators, policymakers, and scholars engaged in AI
regulation, legal theory, and European integration
processes. Prospects for further research include
empirical evaluation of the EU AI Act’s post-2026
implementation across Member States and candidate
countries (including Ukraine), as well as deeper
exploration of AI’s impact on specific branches of
public law.
Expanded abstract volume: approximately 4800
characters with spaces.
Keywords: political and legal doctrines,
artificial intelligence, AI governance, EU AI Act,
transformation of law, state sovereignty, human
oversight, Ukraine's European integration, risk-based
regulation, digital era.