Rein Müllerson’s New Philosophy of International Law

Abstract

Researchers of international legal reality continue to master the theoretical advances of prof. Rein Müllerson. Newly published monograph by Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd Living In Interesting Times: Curse or Chance? Recollections of an International Lawyer — Participant and Observer sums up the fruitful work of this famous international lawyer, conveys his experience to the next generations of theorists and practitioners. An experience that not only contains the international legal qualification of modern life’s complex concepts, but also brings them together into a coherent system. Based on a broad doctrinal basis, the book is, in the words of the author himself, a reflection of subjective realism, the author’s understanding of the philosophy of international law. Operating with such instruments of a modern researcher of international relations as liberalism and democratization, globalization and regionalization, linking the theory built in the Soviet scientific paradigm with the practice tested in the UN structures, the author brought international law to a higher level of comprehension as a complex system of regulators of interstate behavior. The neutral and non-politicized views of prof. Müllerson on most modern international problems, as well as his rich experience in the application of legal norms in practice, should be appreciated by present and future generations of researchers interested in building a new world — free from wars and confrontations.