Lauri Mälksoo,Russian Approaches to International Law

Abstract

1. Events of 2014 brought about a fundamental rift in Russian and Western interpretations of international law, which led some scholars to claim that Russia is trying to “shape and constrain interpretation of law and international norms in the wider community of states as well as its own neighborhood”.1 Several books and articles have emerged that highlight Russian views of international law and its application. Lauri Mälksoo, a Professor of International Law, University of Tartu (Estonia), in his book “Russian Approaches to International Law”, discusses several important and controversial issues, including continuities and discontinuities in Russian legal discourse, Russia’s attitude to the West, and how Russia’s approaches informed foreign policy choices. 2. As the author correctly points out in the beginning, while there is extensive literature covering Soviet approaches to international law, research on contemporary Russian views is much more modest. We would add that in some areas of international law research of Russian views is virtually non-existent, for instance, in the domain of international criminal law. In this regard, this book represents an important contribution to the debate on Western/non-Western approaches to international law in the context of “overcoming Eurocentrism”.