Russia, the Soviet Union, and Imperial Continuity in International Law

Russia, the Soviet Union, and Imperial Continuity in International Law explores the history of imperial ideas and practices in Russian and Soviet engagements with international law. This volume traces the role of international legal doctrines and arguments in facilitating the expansion of the Russian Empire, their transition into Soviet Russia post-1917, and their use after the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991. Particular attention is paid to Russian and Soviet international legal doctrines concerning the termination of treaties (clausula rebus sic stantibus), identity and continuity of Russia in the context of state succession, hegemonic doctrines such as the great power status of Russia (or the Soviet Union), and various interpretations of balance of power and spheres of influence, including the doctrine of socialist international law. In building its narrative, the book draws extensively on previously under-studied international law periodicals published in Russia and the Soviet Union, including the Soviet Yearbook of International Law, Soviet State and Law and Moscow Journal of International Law.

Chapter 1 - Introductory Chapter
Chapter 2 - The Russian Empire until the Crimean War (1853-6)
Chapter 3 - The Late Russian Empire (1856-1917)
Chapter 4 - From Soviet Russia to the Soviet Union: The Interwar Period and the Second World War
Chapter 5 - Interwar Soviet International Law Scholars and the Buildup to the Nazi-Soviet Pact of 1939
Chapter 6 - The Cold War: Interpretations of Soviet State Identity, Federalism, and Self-Determination
Chapter 7 - The Cold War: Soviet Views on Treaties, Peaceful Coexistence, and Socialist International Law as Imperial Doctrines
Chapter 8 - From Perestroika to Putin's Russia: Swinging Back to the Imperial Concept of International Law

Lauri Mälksoo is Professor of International Law at the University of Tartu in Estonia. He is member of the Institut de Droit International, of the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe and of the Estonian Academy of Sciences. He has published widely on the history and theory of international law, including the monograph “Russian Approaches to International Law” (OUP, 2015) and is co-editor and co-author of the volume “The Oxford Handbook of International Law in Europe” (OUP, 2024). He is co-editor of the Baltic Yearbook of International Law and belongs to advisory boards of several specialized international law journals.