Theoretical legal foundations of social protection of the population
The article considers the key theoretical foundations of social protection of the population in the context of modern legal realities. It points out that the intensification of the reform of the legislation on social protection of the population is viewed as one of the characteristic features of the current state of the Russian legal system. The authors of the article carry out a retrospective analysis of the latest domestic legislation, which formed the regulatory framework for the fulfilment of the state functions of social protection of the population. The paper examines the main approaches to the definition of the concepts of "social protection", "social policy", "social risk", describes the main directions in the social policy of the state at different stages of the development of the domestic legal system, and analyses the features of individual elements of the social protection system in Russia. The authors draw several conclusions of a theoretical nature about the specification of the conceptual apparatus in the sphere and the clarification of its content: they propose the definition of the category "social policy", determine the essence of social risk as a legal fact, clarify the definition of "social protection of the population", identify the elements of the system of social protection (social security, social insurance, pension insurance, state pension provision and health care).