Deconstructing the Conflict in Ukraine: The Relevance of International Law to Hybrid States and Wars

2015 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 452-478 ◽  
Author(s):  
Outi Korhonen
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
State Level ◽  
Current Situation ◽  
The State ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Economic Control ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Private Actors

In Ukraine, spheres of political, military, and economic control are contested, non-transparent, and shifting. As the Ukrainian government lost control over the rebellious Eastern oblasts (regions) of the country, Russia denies its authority over various pro-Russian separatists and vigorously rejects any responsibility for the abuses by the unidentified “green men,” both before and after the annexation of Crimea. Even during the decades before this conflict, the rule of law in Ukraine was “thin” at best. Meaningful political control was sporadic and dispersed, often wielded by the mix of public, private, and other shady actors occupying the grey area between a functional and a dysfunctional state. If state actors never effectively took control over the events at the state-level during peaceful times, it is not surprising that it is more difficult once a “hot” conflict breaks out. It is not unreasonable to assume that Minsk agreements—signed in an effort to stop the hemorrhaging of the conflict—will not hold if the signatories do not effectively control the diverse public and private actors who possess the actual capacity to influence the dynamic on the ground. Before rendering any kind of juridical judgment, the complicated political and socioeconomic configuration of the conflict in Ukraine forces us to first confront a factual puzzle: Who and what influence the current situation? Which concrete actors really drive the conflict and what interests animate them?

scholarly journals Ordre du droit et droit de l'ordre

2005 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 699-729
Author(s):  
Jacques Zylberberg
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
International Law ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
The State ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Sovereign State ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Civil And Political Rights

This essay undertakes a review of national and international law to demonstrate that law is mainly an ideological and variable instrument of the State and of the United Nations, which is a by-product of the states. In this perspective, the author opposes the pragmatical ideology of resistance against the sovereign state to the juridical legitimation and the behaviour of the States who reluctantly have conceded some civil and political rights. Those rights are endangered by the growing bureaucratization of the state, the inflation of the juridical norms and rules, in addition to the permanent repressive characters of the State. The criticism of the contradiction and the variation of the rule of law when it relates to "human rights" is also extended to international law as well as to the international organizations.

The Paradox of “Just War” in Rousseau's Theory of Interstate Relations

2015 ◽  
Vol 109 (2) ◽  
pp. 314-325 ◽  
Author(s):  
BLAISE BACHOFEN
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Just War ◽  
The State ◽  
Interstate Relations ◽  
Law Of War ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
External Relations ◽  
The Law ◽  
Utopian Theory

In theSocial Contract, Rousseau declares that he has given up the idea of discussing the “external relations” of states. Yet numerous texts—including a recently reconstituted work about the law of war—show that he thought very seriously about the question of the nature and origin of war and of the possibility of making war subject to the rule of law. Rousseau, in contrast to Hobbes, links war's appearance to that of the sovereign states; the state of war is therefore the necessary result of international relations. Moreover, he considers the international law as chimerical. How can he then conceive a non-utopian theory of “just war”? My hypothesis is that his conception of the law of war is deduced from principles of internal political law and arises from pragmatic necessity. The state that discredits itself in its manner of waging war weakens itself while believing that it is reinforcing itself.

THE DESOVEREIGNIZATION OF THE STATE: DEVIATION FROM THE PRINCIPLES OF INTERNATIONAL LAW OR AN OBJECTIVE NECESSITY

2018 ◽  
pp. 68-77
Author(s):  
Aleksey Vladimirovich Kondratyev ◽  
Svetlana Viktorovna Vorobyeva
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
The State ◽  
State Sovereignty ◽  
Limiting State ◽  
National Interests ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Economic Support ◽  
The Right ◽  
Stable Development

We examine processes of desovereignization and the loss of a state political subjectivity. Noted the necessity of research and analysis of state sovereignty in the context of globalization and threats to international peace, which affect the degree of independence of the state and require the search for legal and political levers to protect the monolithic right of the state to independence, inviolability and non-interference in internal affairs. Has been made an attempt to search for detect and establish acceptable grounds for limiting state sovereignty. It is established that the voluntary restriction of sovereignty with the transfer of powers to supranational entities has constructive consequences in the form of good-neighborly cooperation, financial and economic support of states from international financial institutions, etc. In cases where, in order to establish the rule of law, protect human rights and freedoms and under other good intentions, the policy of the state is interfered with by both the organs of the international community and individual states that have endowed themselves with the right of “international arbiter”, fears for the stable development of national states increase. It is concluded that any limitation of sovereignty should not lead to interference in the national interests of the state and to the loss of political and legal independence.

scholarly journals Why judges need jurisprudence in cyberspace

Legal Studies ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 263-278
Author(s):  
Chris Reed
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Private International Law ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Internal View ◽  
National Legal System ◽  
The Law

AbstractJudges are increasingly asked to decide whether a rule of national law is applicable to a cyberspace actor who is not present in their jurisdiction, or whose activities do not clearly fall within the established understanding of the rule. They do this through interpreting the applicability and meaning of the law.Every attempt to enforce a national law makes a claim that the law has authority over the cyberspace actor. By accepting that claim, the judge asserts that the law's claim is legitimate. This is a Hartian exercise, adopting the internal view of the national legal system as the test for legitimacy.But in cyberspace the legitimacy of a national law claim is determined not by the internal perspective of the legal system but by the external perspective of cyberspace actors. A law will only have authority in cyberspace if it can convince cyberspace actors that its claim is legitimate. And a legal system which repeatedly makes illegitimate claims thereby weakens its status as a system which adheres to the rule of law.Judges can help solve this problem by interpreting laws and applying public and private international law so as to reject applicability claims which are illegitimate. To do this successfully, they need to understand the jurisprudential foundations of any law's authority in cyberspace.

Hobbes on the International Rule of Law

2014 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Dyzenhaus
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
International Law ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
The State ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
State Of Nature ◽  
Independent States ◽  
International Rule

Perhaps the most influential passage on the rule of law in international law comes from chapter 13 of Thomas Hobbes's Leviathan. In the course of describing the miserable condition of mankind in the state of nature, Hobbes remarks to readers who might be skeptical that such a state ever existed that they need only look to international relations—the relations between independent states—to observe one:But though there had never been any time, wherein particular men were in a condition of warre one against another; yet in all times, Kings, and Persons of Soveraigne authority, because of their Independency, are in continuall jealousies, and in the state and posture of Gladiators; having their weapons pointing, and their eyes fixed on one another; that is, their Forts, Garrisons, and Guns upon the Frontiers of their Kingdomes; and continuall Spyes upon their neighbours; which is a posture of War.

Introduction

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henri Decoeur
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Organized Crime ◽  
The State ◽  
Public Official ◽  
International Peace ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Peace And Security ◽  
Acting In Concert

This section presents the concept of state organized crime, defined as the use, by a public official in a position to shape or influence the actions of a state and acting in concert with a structured group, of the resources of the state to commit or facilitate the commission of acts criminalized in international law, in order to obtain a financial or other material benefit. It highlights the challenges that this phenomenon poses internationally and domestically, notably for international peace and security, human rights, and the rule of law. It also discusses the terminology and methodology used in the book, and outlines the argument to be made.

The Rule of Law, Domestic and International

2019 ◽  
pp. 19-46
Author(s):  
Ian Hurd
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Social Welfare ◽  
International Law ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
The State ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
The Government ◽  
Central Claim ◽  
Individual Human

This chapter looks at the domestic rule of law and its uneasy translation to international politics. The central claim is this: the domestic rule of law is in effect when there exists a set of stable public laws binding in theory and practice on both citizens and the state. There are two main lines of debate in existing literature on the domestic rule of law. The first asks whether individual human rights and collective social welfare are effects of the rule of law or constitutive of it. The second debate involves how the rule of law can be distinguished from rule by law, in which the state uses the framework of law instrumentally to legitimate and reinforce its domination. Three claims about the rule of law are constant across these debates: that rules should be public and stable, that rules should apply to the government as well as the citizens, and that the rules should be applied equally across cases. None of these translates easily to the realm of international law. Thus, domestic rule of law provides an unsuitable model for an international equivalent.

scholarly journals The right to obtain information

2020 ◽  
pp. 343-362
Author(s):  
عبدالله ذنون عبدالله الصواف
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Political Action ◽  
The State ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Human Right ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Democratic Culture ◽  
Right To Information ◽  
The Right

The right to obtain information is closely related to the extension of democratic culture and the expansion of its influence within the societies by establishing the rule of law and the ability to govern honestly and vividly through the spread of information and making the citizen aware about it. Here, the trilogy of transparency, accountability and questioning is evident to make political action governed by controls that reduce opportunities for corruption and prevent the exploitation of power by not excluding any oversight bodies over all legislative, executive and judicial powers. The right to obtain information according to the traditional division of jurists of international law was considered among the civil and political rights, even if this division suffers from a kind of inaccuracy, as the right to information interferes with all rights, whether civil, political or economic, and other divisions that may arise because it is the basic principle for the exercise of any human right. The respect of this right is a measure of the state in its respect of the citizen and the extent of its democracy, or, as it is said, the oxygen of a democratic government. Proceeding from this, when any official party tries to prove its righteousness and respect for the citizen, the repetition of phrases interspersed with the word transparency, meaning that it has nothing to be afraid being declared. This suggests that the right of the citizen to obtain information is either a grant from the state, although there are legal bases that confirm that this right is in contrast to the state and it is permissible to compel any party to provide the information it hides while observing certain restrictions that may be related to national security or public order. Accordingly.

scholarly journals The Blizzard of the World: COVID-19 and the Last Say of the State of Exception

2021 ◽  
Vol 96 ◽  
pp. 17-32
Author(s):  
Przemysław Tacik
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Inner Core ◽  
Civil Liberties ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
International Community ◽  
The State ◽  
State Of Exception ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
The World

The paper aims to grasp the COVID-19 pandemic as a socio-political catastrophe in the Benjaminian sense. As argued in the article, the scope and nature of the COVID-19 crisis eludes us due to our closeness to its inner core. What is obfuscated in this moment is the politico-legal framework on which the international community is based, where sovereignty and turbocapitalism join their forces to produce biopolitical devices. The paper looks into uses of the state of exception in particular countries, concluding that the rule of law in the pandemic was generally put on the back burner even by the countries that officially praise it. Sovereignty clearly returned to the stage, undermining parliamentarism and civil liberties in the sake of necessity. International law remained incapable of addressing this return, let alone of enforcing responsibility of China for infringing WHO rules. As a conclusion the paper argues that COVID-19 opened new-old paths of governing the living that will play a planetary role in the future fights for dominance and imposing a new face of capitalism.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document