Shabaeva Olga Aleksandrovna

In modern state and law theory, the category of «national project» has expanded beyond the narrow scope of a budget planning tool. A national project functions as a complex semiotic entity with a dual nature: it acts simultaneously as a legal sign, recording the specific obligations of the state, and as a political and legal symbol, conveying values and shaping the image of the future state. Understanding this duality is essential for analyzing the effectiveness of communication between the state and society. Based on an analysis of the legislative acts that enshrined the legal definition of a national project in the Federal Law "On Strategic Planning in the Russian Federation" and using the methodological apparatus of legal semiotics, the author substantiates the thesis that a national project is a complex sign-symbolic complex. The fundamental method of cognition is materialistic dialectics. This method involves examining phenomena in their development, interrelationships, and contradictions. This method was used to understand the national project, its impact on the state, economy, and social structure, as well as to identify contradictions and problems arising during its implementation. Furthermore, the research article utilized general scientific (logical, systemic, and functional) and specific scientific (formal-legal and comparative-legal) research methods aimed at achieving the stated goal and solving the objectives posed in the article. Three dimensions of the national project were identified: semantic (the content of national goals), syntactic (place in the hierarchy of strategic planning documents), and pragmatic (impact on citizens, the state, society, and social communications between them). A semiotic approach allows us to uncover not only the instrumental but also the symbolic function of national projects as means of implementing public policy and consolidating society around national development goals. The study revealed that the legislative definition of a national project, enshrined in the Federal Law "On Strategic Planning in the Russian Federation", serves only as a formal legal basis. A semiotic analysis revealed that the underlying mechanisms of national projects' impact on public relations are linked to their role in shaping the image of the state and constructing social reality. It has been proven that, in addition to the instrumental function of achieving specific indicators, national projects perform a symbolic function, expressed in the representation of state policy, the consolidation of society around national development goals, and the formation of positive legal expectations of citizens

national project, semiotics of law, sign, symbol, strategic planning, national goals, legal construction

Shabaeva Olga Aleksandrovna – Candidate of Juridical Sciences, Associate Professor, Leading Researcher of the Department of Theory and History of State and Law, Irkutsk Law Institute (branch) of the University of the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation (1, Shevtsov st., Irkutsk, 664035, Russian Federation), ORCID: 0000-0001-9973-3033, RSCI Author ID: 582690, Researcher ID: AGT-6031-2022, SPIN: 9839-5677, e-mail: Shabaevaolya@mail.ru

Shabaeva O.A. Semioticheskiy podkhod k ponimaniyu natsional'nogo proekta: teoretiko-pravovoy aspekt [A Semiotic Approach to Understanding the National Project: Theoretical and Legal Aspect] Sibirskij yuridicheskij vestnik [Siberian Law Herald]. 2026, no 2 (113), pp. 51–58. – DOI 10.26516/2071-8136.2026.2.51 (in Russian).

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