Soviet and Western International Law and the Cold War in the Era of Bipolarity: Inter-Block Law in a Nuclear Age

1963 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 40-81 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward McWhinney
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
International Law ◽  
Legal Doctrine ◽  
Oliver Wendell Holmes ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Personality Cult ◽  
Legal Context ◽  
Policy Conflicts ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Cold War

“The prophecies of what the courts will do in fact, and nothing more pretentious, are what I mean by the law.”OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES, JR.,The Path of the Law (1897).The “WINDS OF CHANGE” in the Soviet Union since Stalin's death — what, in a legal context, the leading journal Soviet State and Law has called the programme “for complete elimination of the harmful consequences of the personality cult in Soviet jurisprudence” — have done much to liberate Soviet international law thinking from the at times overly rigid positivism and rather sterile orthodoxy which had dominated it, in common with Soviet general legal doctrine, from the time of Pashukanis' downfall in the late 1930's, onwards through the period of Vyshinsky's intellectual dominance almost to the present day. For the purpose of analysis and appraisal of the contemporary state of Soviet international law doctrine and practice, both as to its main points of accord and also its main policy conflicts and differences, certain preliminary propositions can be advanced as to the nature and condition of Soviet international law in general over the years since the October Revolution.

The Idea of Just War

2021 ◽  
pp. 141-142
Author(s):  
Martin Wight
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
International Law ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
National Policy ◽  
League Of Nations ◽  
Holy War ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Cold War

In this note Wight describes pendulum swings in opinion about the requirements of justice in war in Western civilization since the Middle Ages. Medieval Catholicism emphasized the righteousness of the ruler’s cause and asserted orthodoxy against infidels or heretics. Prominent writers on international law in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries (Gentili, Grotius, and Vattel) marked a shift toward secularization and rationalism (with both sides usually able to claim justice) and restraint in the laws of war governing the methods of combat. Moser’s study of international law, published in 1777–1780, was representative of an ‘age of positivism’ (1763–1918) in which all sovereign states had a right to resort to war or to remain neutral, while codifying obligations concerning the conduct of war. The Covenant of the League of Nations, signed in 1919, initiated a return to restrictions on the right to resort to war, reinforced by the 1928 Kellogg–Briand Pact, also known as the General Treaty for the Renunciation of War as an Instrument of National Policy, which was upheld by the Nuremberg Tribunals. The Covenant ruled out aggression as unjust, while action in defence of the Covenant would be just by enforcing collective security. The Soviet Union reintroduced Holy War with its view of the Great Patriotic War (World War II) and the Cold War as just causes that advanced Communist revolutionary objectives. Counter-force strategies of nuclear deterrence may be regarded as strengthening restraint in the methods of war, compared to counter-value or ‘anti-city’ approaches.

Part 1 The Cold War Era (1945–89), 13 The Intervention in Czechoslovakia—1968

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hafner Gerhard
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
International Law ◽  
Political System ◽  
The Political ◽  
Leading Role ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Valid Consent ◽  
The Cold War

This contribution discusses the intervention of five member states of the Warsaw Pact Organization under the leading role of the Soviet Union in the CSSR in August 1968, which terminated the “Prague Spring” in a forceful manner. After presenting the facts of this intervention and its reasons, it describes the legal positions of the protagonists of this intervention as well as that of the states condemning it, as presented in particular in the Security Council. It then examines the legality of this intervention against general international law and the particular views of the Soviet doctrine existing at that time, defending some sort of socialist (regional) international law. This case stresses the requirement of valid consent for the presence of foreign troops in a country and denies the legality of any justification solely based on the necessity to maintain the political system within a state.

An Introduction: International Law in a Multipolar World

2013 ◽  
Vol 107 ◽  
pp. 1-1
Author(s):  
Stanimir Alexandrov ◽  
Laurence Boisson de Chazournes ◽  
Kal Raustiala
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
International Law ◽  
The United States ◽  
Nuclear Nonproliferation ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Independent States ◽  
The Many ◽  
The Cold War

During the Cold War, international relations and international law were deeply shaped by the struggle for global dominance between the United States and the Soviet Union. The clashes between the superpowers reverberated in legal issues relating to the functioning of the United Nations, the use of force, nuclear nonproliferation, human rights, etc. The many newly independent states, caught in the middle, repeatedly made claims for reform and initiated rule-making initiatives, but with limited results. After the end of the Cold War, the United States, its Western allies, and their shared economic and geopolitical interests remained largely unchallenged in the international arena.

‘There was an elephant in the court room’: Reflections on the role of Judge Sir Percy Spender (1897–1985) in theSouth West Africa Cases(1960–1966) after half a century

2017 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 147-170
Author(s):  
VICTOR KATTAN
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
West Africa ◽  
International Law ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
South West ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
South West Africa ◽  
The Cold War

AbstractThis article argues that theSouth West Africa Caseswere brought to an ignominious end because the cases were about self-determination as much as they were about apartheid. For liberals like Judge Sir Percy Spender, the President of the Court, political systems based on majority rule looked suspiciously like authoritarian regimes modelled on the Soviet Union during the Cold War. It is submitted that, given the controversy surrounding self-determination in international law, Sir Percy wanted to avoid addressing the merits of the cases. Self-determination was the proverbial ‘elephant in the court room’ that Sir Percy wanted to avoid at all costs. This article builds upon earlier archival research on theSouth West Africa Casesby taking a closer look at Sir Percy's role in the cases and his views on self-determination. It is argued that what ‘killed’ the cases was Sir Percy's belief that Ethiopia and Liberia were seeking to ‘legalize’ self-determination with a view to further uniting the Afro-Asian bloc at the United Nations with the Soviet Union against the West.

The Gulf Crisis and African-American Interests Under International Law

1993 ◽  
Vol 87 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henry J. Richardson
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
United Nations ◽  
International Law ◽  
The United States ◽  
International Community ◽  
Desert Storm ◽  
Enforcement Action ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The Cold War

It has now been two years since the end of the United Nations Security Council’s military enforcement action against Iraq, popularly known as “Operation Desert Storm.” The glow of military success suffused the American atmosphere, and its aftermath is clearly shaping international expectations about the United Nations, its legal authority, human rights, and more general issues of power, wealth and loyalties of peoples. Also shaping expectations is the end of the Cold War, which left the United States as the sole “superpower.” How well the international community and the American polity are adjusting to the absence of the Soviet Union as a major state and convenient enemy remains open to question. International law is thus challenged to regulate an international community suddenly transformed in many ways.

The Moralities of Negotiation

Worldview ◽  
1959 ◽  
Vol 2 (11) ◽  
pp. 3-6
Author(s):  
E. Raymond Platig
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
International Law ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The World ◽  
The Cold War

Many well-intentioned people have long recognized the absence in our century of any effective international law, government and mores. They have also wasted a lot of time attempting to conjure up constitutional governments for the world, to codify, revise and extend international law, and to call forth a mostly non-existent world public opinion. In a world rent by such basic ideological and cultural splits as is ours, these efforts are foredoomed to failure.The much more relevant question for one interested in peace in this nuclear-missile’ age is whether or not the United States and the Soviet Union can settle through negotiation some of the political problems of the Cold War. If they cannot agree to “live and let live” as sovereign states in a world of sovereign states, on what basis can we expect that they will engage in that much more intimate collaboration out of which mores, law and government can grow?

scholarly journals Recognition of the state in modern international law (on the example of Kosovo)

2020 ◽  
pp. 18-22
Author(s):  
Kateryna Yefremova ◽  
Ivanna Maryniv
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
International Law ◽  
The State ◽  
Main Body ◽  
Legal Doctrine ◽  
Constitutive Theories ◽  
Current State ◽  
International Recognition ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Definition Of

Problem setting. International science has long been discussing the mechanism of legal recognition of newly created states. And in general the need for the existence of such an international legal institution as the recognition of states. If until the twentieth century this institution was considered as a purely theoretical component of the science of public international law, then with the collapse of the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, more than twenty new statessubjects of international law were formed. The need for their recognition by the international community has actualized the interest in this institution in international law. However, since then, the mechanism and criteria for such recognition have not been unified. Therefore, for example, the situation with the recognition of Kosovo still remains quite ambiguous. Target of research. The purpose of this study is the trace genesis of the development of the institution of recognition of states in international law, provide a doctrinal definition and scientific criteria for the recognition of states. On the example of Kosovo to analyze the current state of privately defined states in terms of their powers in the international arena. Analysis of resent researches and publications. The following scientists were engaged in research of the specified question: L. V. Shpakovsky, V. V. Ishchenko, T. V. Tsymbrivsky, P. V. Otenko, Yu. P. Ignatiuk, I. Ye. Khmelyova, A. I. Grigorshin. This question has been studied among foreign researchers: E. A. Kholina, R. Karaev, D. A. Budko. Article’s main body. The article considers the main approaches to the institution of international recognition of states. Examples of criteria for such recognition are proposed by both international legal doctrine and international organizations in the process of their functioning and interaction with states. Declarative and constitutive theories of recognition of states are analyzed. It also examines the current state and status of Kosovo as a partially recognized state. Conclusions and prospects for the development. The problem of international recognition of the state is extremely important and needs to be resolved as soon as possible. That the very ability of recognized national institutions to respond quickly to the principles of society and geopolitical changes are the marketing dynamics of the development of the entire world community. In this regard, it is appropriate to systematize and harmonize the existing norms on the international definition of states and to carry out their further codification. Since most countries of the world still recognized Kosovo as a newly created state, in our opinion, such recognition is appropriate for all other countries. For other unrecognized territories, each case of recognition of new countries before the creation of a single codified act should be considered individually and not through the prism of the formation of Kosovo.

New Materials for Studying Preparation and Staging of the 6th World Festival of Youth and Students in 1957

2018 ◽  
pp. 550-563
Author(s):  
Daniel Sawert ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Central Asia ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Soviet Society ◽  
Unique Event ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Archival Documents ◽  
Cultural Standards ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Local Traditions

The article assesses archival materials on the festival movement in the Soviet Union in 1950s, including its peak, the 6th World Festival of Youth and Students held in 1957 in Moscow. Even now the Moscow festival is seen in the context of international cultural politics of the Cold War and as a unique event for the Soviet Union. The article is to put the 6th World Festival of Youth and Students in the context of other youth festivals held in the Soviet Union. The festivals of 1950s provided a field for political, social, and cultural experiments. They also have been the crucible of a new way of communication and a new language of design. Furthermore, festivals reflected the new (althogh relative) liberalism in the Soviet Union. This liberalism, first of all, was expressed in the fact that festivals were organized by the Komsomol and other Soviet public and cultural organisations. Taking the role of these organisations into consideration, the research draws on the documents of the Ministry of culture, the All-Russian Stage Society, as well as personal documents of the artists. Furthermore, the author has gained access to new archive materials, which have until now been part of no research, such as documents of the N. Krupskaya Central Culture and Art Center and of the central committees of various artistic trade unions. These documents confirm the hypothesis that the festivals provided the Komsomol and the Communist party with a means to solve various social, educational, and cultural problems. For instance, in Central Asia with its partiarchal society, the festivals focuced on female emancipation. In rural Central Asia, as well as in other non-russian parts of the Soviet Union, there co-existed different ways of celebrating. Local traditions intermingled with cultural standards prescribed by Moscow. At the first glance, the modernisation of the Soviet society was succesful. The youth acquired political and cultural level that allowed the Soviet state to compete with the West during the 6th World Festival of Youth and Students. During the festival, however, it became apparent, that the Soviet cultural scheme no longer met the dictates of times. Archival documents show that after the Festival cultural and party officials agreed to ease off dogmatism and to tolerate some of the foreign cultural phenomena.

Trust, but Verify

2016 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Arms Control ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
East West

This book uses trust—with its emotional and predictive aspects—to explore international relations in the second half of the Cold War, beginning with the late 1960s. The détente of the 1970s led to the development of some limited trust between the United States and the Soviet Union, which lessened international tensions and enabled advances in areas such as arms control. However, it also created uncertainty in other areas, especially on the part of smaller states that depended on their alliance leaders for protection. The chapters in this volume look at how the “emotional” side of the conflict affected the dynamics of various Cold War relations: between the superpowers, within the two ideological blocs, and inside individual countries on the margins of the East–West confrontation.

The Cold War in the Schools

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victoria M. Grieve
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
School Experiences ◽  
Civil Defense ◽  
Voluntary Programs ◽  
Exchange Programs ◽  
Science And Art ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
War Experiences ◽  
The Cold War

The Cold War experiences of America’s schoolchildren are often summed up by quick references to “duck and cover,” a problematic simplification that reduces children to victims in need of government protection. By looking at a variety of school experiences—classroom instruction, federal and voluntary programs, civil defense and opposition to it, as well as world friendship outreach—it is clear that children experienced the Cold War in their schools in many ways. Although civil defense was ingrained in the daily school experiences of Cold War kids, so, too, were fitness tests, atomic science, and art exchange programs. Global competition with the Soviet Union changed the way children learned, from science and math classes to history and citizenship training. Understanding the complexity of American students’ experiences strengthens our ability to decipher the meaning of the Cold War for American youth and its impact on the politics of the 1960s.

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