Alternative Legalities: How the Russian Invasion of Ukraine Fractures International Law
By invading Ukraine, Russia did not only violate international law, but also fractured it as a universal body of arguments and justifications for states’ conduct. The Russian justifications for the invasion are clearly at odds with what is generally viewed as good-faith use of international law. Russia employs international law by grounding it in claims about historical injustices, the sacred fight against Nazism, the unity of the Russian and Ukrainian peoples, NATO expansion, and Western hypocrisy.
The predominant response to those claims and arguments has been to demonstrate their lack of merit under rules of international law. However, Kostia Gorobets argues that providing justifications under universal international law was never Russia’s goal. He hypothesizes that Russia’s reliance on cultural symbolism and cherry-picked or fabricated historical narratives signifies an attempt to replace international law with an alternative legality where the conditions of validity and persuasiveness of international legal arguments diverge from those generally accepted in international law.
This project will offer a comprehensive account of the structure, intellectual roots, and imperialistic implications of this Russian alternative legality. The Russian tradition of legal philosophy, which prioritizes values and ideals over rules, will frame a discussion on the nature of law. Then, drawing on my expertise in philosophy of international law, Gorobets will show how Russia modifies the criteria of acceptability and persuasiveness of international legal arguments. This analysis will expose how Russia’s alternative legality enables its imperialistic arguments regarding sovereignty, the use of force, and self-determination.
Russia’s attempt to fracture the universal system of international law and replace it with an alternative of its own design represents an existential threat to international law. Gorobets' project will not only expose the anatomy and inner logic of the Russian alternative legality but will also offer a comprehensive framework for studying other instances of alternative legalities.
Duration of the project
2024 - 2027
Awarded grant
319,230 euros, obtained from Dutch Research Council Veni funding
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| Last modified: | 01 October 2024 12.40 p.m. |