Episode 42: Russia, Imperial Continuities and Histories of International Law

About this episode

The episode explores the distinctive Russian approach to international law through historical and comparative lenses.

One feature of the turn to history in international law has been the adoption of ‘national’ traditions (here using ‘national’ very loosely) as a lens through which to explore a broader picture. This focus on national traditions has converged with rich work styled as comparative international law, exploring how international law operates as a fragile common language even as governments deploy its grammar and vocabulary in quite different ways. In this episode we take up the question of whether there is a distinctive Russian approach to or use of international law. This takes us to reflections on the terrain from which we judge this, particularly today. What are the comparators and from which perspective are we taking a view? It also takes us to the stakes of thinking in terms of these long-range continuities in national legal styles in the first place. How does that shape our perspective on the broader system and how it might develop in future? Megan Donaldson is joined by Lauri Mälksoo (University of Tartu), Erika de Wet (University of Graz) and the political scientist Gulnaz Sharafutdinova (Director of the Russia Institute, King’s College London). Scholarship discussed in the…

People in this episode

Host: Megan Donaldson

Guests: Lauri Mälksoo, Erika de Wet, Gulnaz Sharafutdinova

Topics covered

• Russian approach to international law
• national traditions in international law
• comparative international law
• historical perspectives
• legal styles
• international law development

Keywords

• international law
• Russia
• national traditions
• comparative law
• legal history
• Mälksoo
• Sharafutdinova

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: University of Tartu, University of Graz, King’s College London

Books & works: Russia, the Soviet Union, and Imperial Continuity in International Law, The Red Mirror: Putin's Leadership and Russia's Insecure Identity, The Afterlife of the ‘Soviet Man’: Rethinking Homo Sovieticus

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