Russian Approaches to International Law

Author: Lauri Mälksoo
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 9780198808046

Published In: April 2017
Format: Hardback , 240 pages
Jurisdiction: Russia ? Disclaimer:
Countri(es) stated herein are used as reference only
Hardback Edition ISBN: 9780198723042

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Description
Contents
Author

Details

Provides a detailed analysis of how Russia's understanding of international law has developed
Draws on historical, theoretical, and practical perspectives to offer the reader the 'big picture' of Russia's engagement with international law
Extensively uses sources and resources in the Russian language, including many which are not easily available to scholars outside of Russia

This book addresses a simple question: how do Russians understand international law? Is it the same understanding as in the West or is it in some ways different and if so, why?

It answers these questions by drawing on from three different yet closely interconnected perspectives: history, theory, and recent state practice. The work uses comparative international law as starting point and argues that in order to understand post-Soviet Russia's state and scholarly approaches to international law, one should take into account the history of ideas in Russia. To an extent, Russian understandings of international law differ from what is considered the mainstream in the West.

One specific feature of this book is that it goes inside the language of international law as it is spoken and discussed in post-Soviet Russia, especially the scholarly literature in the Russian language, and relates this literature to the history of international law as discipline in Russia. Recent state practice such as the annexation of Crimea in 2014, Russia's record in the UN Security Council, the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights, prominent cases in investor-state arbitration, and the creation of the Eurasian Economic Union are laid out and discussed in the context of increasingly popular 'civilizational' ideas, the claim that Russia is a unique civilization and therefore not part of the West. The implications of this claim for the future of international law, its universality, and regionalism are discussed.

Readership: Scholars of the history of and contemporary international law; scholars of international relations, particularly those with a focus on Russia and the Soviet Union

I: Introductory Themes
II: The History of International Legal Scholarship in Russia
III: Theory of International Law in Contemporary Russia
IV: Patterns of Post-Soviet Russian State Practice in International Law

Lauri Mälksoo is Professor of International Law at the University of Tartu in Estonia and the Director of the Estonian Foreign Policy Institute, a think tank in Tallinn. In 2013, he was elected member of the Estonian Academy of Sciences and is currently the Society's youngest member.