With a Foreword by Dame Rosalyn Higgins, this book offers useful insights into topical areas of international law and the interaction of law and diplomacy, as exemplified by the Cyprus Problem on which the author has particular expertise.

This addition to the Elements of International Law series explores the role of international law as an integral part of the Russian legal system, with particular reference to the role of international treaties and of generally-recognized principles and norms of international law. Following a discussion of the historical place of treaties in Russian legal history and the sources of the Russian law of treaties, the book strikes new ground in exploring contemporary treaty-making in the Russian Federation by drawing upon sources not believed to have been previously used in Russian or western doctrinal writings. Special attention is devoted to investment protection treaties. The importance of publishing treaties as a condition of their application by Russian courts is explored. For the first time a detailed account is given of the constitutional history of treaty ratification in Russia, the outcome being that present constitutional practice is inconsistent with the drafting history of the relevant constitutional provisions. The volume gives attention to the role of the Russian Supreme Court in developing treaty practice through the issuance of "guiding documents" binding on lower courts, the reaction of the Russian Constitutional Court to judgments of the European Court of Human Rights, and the place of treaties as an integral part of the Russian legal system. Butler further explores the hierarchy of sources of law, together with other facets of Russian arbitral and judicial practice with respect to treaties and other sources of international law. He concludes with a consideration of the 'generally-recognized principles and norms of international law' and their role as part of the Russian system.

"The Korean Law of the Sea Forum, an academic resereach foundation, is pleased to collaborate in a Foreign Translation Program with The Vinogradoff Institute to introduce publications originally in languages other than English on the law of the sea to students and practictioners of international law. This 4th volume in the Program addresses a subject fundamental to the law of the sea, namely the status of treaties and general principles of international law in the Russian legal system, prepared by a leading Russian specialist who has made particular use of Russian judicial archives."--Editor.

This book takes the reader on a sweeping tour of the international legal field to reveal some of the patterns of difference, dominance, and disruption that belie international law's claim to universality. Pulling back the curtain on the "divisible college of international lawyers," Anthea Roberts shows how international lawyers in different states, regions, and geopolitical groupings are often subject to distinct incoming influences and outgoing spheres of influence in ways that reflect and reinforce differences in how they understand and approach international law. These divisions manifest themselves in contemporary controversies, such as debates about Crimea and the South China Sea. Not all approaches to international law are created equal, however. Using case studies and visual representations, the author demonstrates how actors and materials from some states and groups have come to dominate certain transnational flows and forums in ways that make them disproportionately influential in constructing the "international." This point holds true for Western actors, materials, and approaches in general, and for Anglo-American (and sometimes French) ones in particular. However, these patterns are set for disruption. As the world moves past an era of Western dominance and toward greater multipolarity, it is imperative for international lawyers to understand the perspectives and approaches of those coming from diverse backgrounds. By taking readers on a comparative tour of different international law academies and textbooks, the author encourages them to see the world through the eyes of others -- an essential skill in this fast changing world of shifting power dynamics and rising nationalism.

This book addresses a simple question: how do Russians understand international law? Is it the same understanding as in the West or is it in some ways different and if so, why? It answers these questions by drawing on from three different yet closely interconnected perspectives: history, theory, and recent state practice. The work uses comparative international law as starting point and argues that in order to understand post-Soviet Russia's state and scholarly approaches to international law, one should take into account the history of ideas in Russia. To an extent, Russian understandings of international law differ from what is considered the mainstream in the West. One specific feature of this book is that it goes inside the language of international law as it is spoken and discussed in post-Soviet Russia, especially the scholarly literature in the Russian language, and relates this literature to the history of international law as discipline in Russia. Recent state practice such as the annexation of Crimea in 2014, Russia's record in the UN Security Council, the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights, prominent cases in investor-state arbitration, and the creation of the Eurasian Economic Union are laid out and discussed in the context of increasingly popular 'civilizational' ideas, the claim that Russia is a unique civilization and therefore not part of the West. The implications of this claim for the future of international law, its universality, and regionalism are discussed.