Introduction. The genesis and evolution of digitalization as a global process is important for understanding the modern structure of global problems in the field of society, economics and politics, overcoming which is important for humanity to enter the trajectory of sustainable development. It is important to clarify how the socioeconomic component of the problem field of digitalization is related to the political one and what complex solutions should be for humanity in this regard.

Materials and methods. The work uses general scientific methods of analysis and synthesis, comparative analysis. The study of digitalization is based on a systematic approach that considers the processes and phenomena of digital development as an important part of the modern process of globalization.
Results of the study. Ensuring the development of the digital economy is realized due to the rapidly growing capabilities of technologies for working with big data, the creation of electronic applications and large digital platforms (digital economy — “platform economy” or “application economy”), providing automation and intellectualization of management, while owning data and control over digital processes, platforms become political actors, often on a global scale. In the political sphere, digitalization is reflected in a variety of phenomena that also have a problematic side, such as electronic (digital) democracy, digital diplomacy, as well as in the use of digital technologies to support political decision-making, for which in key countries for world politics (including in Russia), the network of situational centers is expanding.

Discussion. Socio-economic problems of digitalization are beginning to have an increasingly pronounced political projection. Among the politically projected socio-economic problems of digitalization, digital inequality, problems of cybersecurity and property rights to data, problems of a shortage of highly qualified personnel, with the mass replacement of labor of medium and low-skilled workers with robots and automatic machines, as well as the problem of accounting and analysis are leading in importance. ever faster growing arrays of received data, their quality. The positive meaning of digitalization, both in the socio-economic and political spheres, is the automated selection and analysis of the necessary information to improve the quality of management and human life. In the political sphere, digitalization of management requires an interdisciplinary approach and concentration of efforts on the intellectualization of management and interaction of states in order to enter the trajectory of sustainable development.

Conclusion. The problematic field of digitalization as a global social process seems to be complex, having both purely economic and socio-political aspects. It is advisable at the level of international institutions to pay the earliest attention to consolidate efforts towards overcoming this problem field through the coordinated intellectualization of management in all spheres, primarily in the political sphere.

Key words: digitalization, digital economy, sustainable development of digital platforms, platform economy, digital technologies, digital political communications, situational centers, political governance.
10.56429/2414-4894-2021-37-3-50-66