BOOK: Artur SIMONYAN, Development of Regional International Law. Lessons from Russia and Eurasia (London: Routledge, 2026), 230 p; ISBN 9781003599173, € 168

 

(image source: Routledge)

Abstract:

This book explores the evolution and internalisation of regional international law in the Eurasian Russian context, covering historical, contemporary, and future perspectives. Providing a forward-looking analysis, the book makes predictions as to how emerging geopolitical and geoeconomic trends will influence the development of regional international law and the balance of power within the Eurasian region. Analysing perceptions of universalism and regionalism across various historical periods in Eurasia, the book focuses on what now encompasses the post-Soviet states, with wider lessons for the international legal community. The book discusses Russia's use of international law to sustain its geopolitical objectives and the subsequent responses from neighbouring states. Evaluating Soviet international law and its relationship with regionalism and universality, the book also explores post-Soviet Russia's efforts to redefine international law by creating its own vision of regional (Eurasian) international law through regional organizations such as the CIS, CSTO, and EAEU in the post-Soviet Eurasian space. Within the current context of Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, it explores how the post-Soviet Eurasian states have navigated their legal and political landscapes amidst competing pressures from both regional and global actors. The book will be of interest to researchers in the field of international law, alongside Eurasian Russian politics.

Table of contents:

Part I: Russia, International Law, and The French Revolution: A Universalist Counter-project and Its Regional Uses

1. The French Revolution and the Remaking of International Law

2. Counter-revolutionary Responses to Revolutionary International Law: The Russian Empire’s View

3. Territorial Expansion and Intervention: Russia’s Departure from the Byzantine-centred Regional Conception of International Law

 

Part II: Two Socialist International Laws: Between Universalism and Regionalism

4. Constructing Socialist International Law: An Early Attempt       

5. Socialist International Law Reasserted: The Brezhnev Doctrine 

6. The Union Republics and International Law: From Socialist Self-Determination to grossraum (dis)ordering

 

Part III: Post-Soviet Eurasia: Between Multipolarity and Regional Legal Ordering

7. Russia’s Dual Position vis-à-vis Contemporary International Law: A Weak Universal Guardian and a Regional Hegemon

8. Consolidating Regional International Law in Post-Soviet Eurasia

 

Conclusion: Universality as a Form of Regional Ordering   

On the author:

Artur Simonyan is an Assistant Professor of International Law at the American University of Armenia. He was a postdoctoral researcher at the Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies (IOS) in Regensburg and a senior fellow at the Berlin-Potsdam research group “International Rule of Law: Rise or Decline?” at the Free University of Berlin. He holds a PhD in International Law from the University of Tartu. His articles have appeared in the European Journal of International Law, the Chinese Journal of International Law, and the Hague Yearbook of International Law and the Baltic Yearbook of International Law, among others. His research and teaching focus on the history and theory of international law and critical approaches to international law.

Read the book here: DOI 10.4324/9781003599173.