The right to self-determination is renowned for its lack of clear interpretation. Broadly speaking, one can differentiate between a 'classic' and a 'romantic' tradition. In modern international law, the balance between these two opposing traditions is sought in an attempt to contain or 'domesticate' the romantic version by limiting it to 'abnormal' situations, that is cases of 'alien subjugation, domination and exploitation'. This book situates Russia's engagement with the right to self-determination in this debate. It shows that Russia follows a distinct approach to self-determination that diverges significantly from the consensus view in international state practice and scholarship, partly due to a lasting legacy of the former Soviet doctrine of international law. Against the background of the Soviet Union's role in the evolution of the right to self-determination, the bulk of the study analyses Russia's relevant state practice in the post-Soviet space through the prisms of sovereignty, secession, and annexation. Drawing on analysis of all seven major secessionist conflicts in the former Soviet space and a detailed study of Russian sources and scholarship, it traces how Russian engagement with self-determination has changed over the past three decades. Ultimately, the book argues that Russia's approach to the right of peoples to self-determination should not only be understood in terms of power politics disguised as legal rhetoric but in terms of a continuously assumed regional hegemony and exceptionalism, based on balance-of-power considerations.

About the Author
Johannes Socher is a postdoctoral research fellow at Freie Universitat Berlin and is currently seconded to the German Federal Foreign Office as an academic adviser on rule of law assistance. Previously, he was a research fellow at the Max Planck Foundation for International Peace and the Rule of Law and at the German Research Institute for Public Administration. He has two state examinations in German law, an M.Sc. in Law, Anthropology and Society from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and an LL.M. as well as a Ph.D. in law from the German University of Administrative Sciences.

Reviews
Socher's book is indispensable for understanding Soviet and Russian approaches to the principle of 'self-determination' and the understanding of ethnic conflicts [...] Socher's book is especially important following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, because it analyses and dismisses in international law the many claims and disinformation made by Russian leaders towards Crimea and Ukraine. This is an indispensable book for the teaching and study of Russian--Ukrainian relations * Taras Kuzio, Europe-Asia Studies *
extensively researched monograph * Survival: Global Politics and Strategy *
This book, based on the author's doctoral dissertation, is an exhaustively documented study of the evolution of self-determination in Soviet and Russian law. Socher carefully tracks the legal arguments the Russian state and legal scholars advanced with respect to the secessionist efforts of Chechnya and Tatarstan within the Russian Federation and other cases in the former Soviet space. * Choice *
I commend Johannes Socher's new book, for the depth and range of its scholarship, and its introduction for an English speaking audience of a wide range of Russian and German literature. * Bill Bowring, Review of Central and Eas t European Law 49 *
The book offers an impressively detailed account of Soviet and Russian state practice in the field of self-determination .... the book remains a valuable documentation of a long-standing tradition of blurring concepts and applying double standards. * Polina Kulish, Voelkerrechtsblog - International Law & International Legal Thought *


Awards
Winner of ^IRussia and the Right to Self-Determination in the Post-Soviet Space^R by Johannes Socher, the dissertation on which this was book was based, was awarded the Klaus Mehnert Prize 2020 of the German Association for East European Studies..



Book Information
ISBN 9780192897176
Author Johannes Socher
Format Hardback
Page Count 288
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 578g
Dimensions(mm) 241mm * 162mm * 22mm