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do at a certain stage of its development and how? What should the
efforts of its bodies and agencies focus on?
Many specialists believe that the functions of the state are, first
of all, certain directions of the state's activity, in which the official

role, tasks, goals and mechanism of development are expressed. The
state realizes with the help of functions its tasks and goals which are
for the society or can be set for the society. In this regard, the

functions exist not only in reality but also potentially as the ability or
opportunity for a particular activity. The functions of the state are the
main directions of activity of the state and its bodies for ensuring the
society’s needs and interests, and they are specified in the tasks,

purposes and social purpose.
All the main functions of the state can be classified according to
the following criteria:

- separation of powers – legislative, executive and regulatory,
judicial, control and supervisory. All of them provide functions of
management of society and the state;

- their role in the society – main and secondary;
- sphere of influence and implementation – internal and external;
- sphere of public life – economic, political, social, humanitarian,

ecological, ideological;
- term of execution – permanent and temporary. All functions of
the state are developing, the main functions become secondary (non-
main), and vice versa, some disappear and new ones appear that

haven’t existed before.
The functions of the state are performed in the definite forms and
certain methods. The forms of implementing the functions

characterize the connection of the state with the right as one of the
main means of governance. The state carries out with the help of right
its functions, its economic, political, and ideological tasks. In some
cases, the state issues the legal norms, in others – organizes their

implementation, and in others – provides, protects them. Three main
forms of performing the functions are distinguished according to it:
- law-making – public activity which is expressed in the

development and adoption of legal norms. It consists in issuing the
regulatory acts, that is, the acts, establishing new norms, or change the
old ones.

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