Doctoral defence: Artur Simonyan "Regional International Law in Eurasia"

On 10 June at 10:00 Artur Simonyan will defend his doctoral thesis "Regional International Law in Eurasia".

Supervisors:
Professor Lauri Mälksoo, University of Tartu
Associate Professor Merilin Kiviorg, University of Tartu

Opponent:
Professor Sergey Sayapin, KIMEP University (Almaty)

Summary: 
This dissertation has two objectives – major and minor. The main object of this Ph.D. thesis is to examine the structural ways and outcomes of Russia's consolidating practices while shaping regionally fragmented international law in the post-Soviet Eurasian region and to trace post-Soviet Eurasian states' reaction to it. The minor objective is to consider how the unification of forces at the regional level can contribute to the effective application of international law. 

After observing different theoretical frameworks, the first argument is that the science of international law does not offer a specific definition of regional international law that ought to be endorsed or rejected. There are two types of regional international law in the science of international law: vertical-apologetic and utopian-horizontal. While vertical apologetic vision relates to great power politics and ultimately hinges on imperialism, horizontal utopian one reflects regional peculiarities. Based on that separation, it is manifest that the Russian vision of consolidating regional international law in the post-Soviet Eurasian region is a vertical-apologetic one. 

By examining regional integration law of post-Soviet Eurasian regional organizations and Russia's mis(use) of international legal norms and principles, the second argument is that Russia has attempted to develop a new set of legal principles, norms, and legal discourses that are in line with its own geopolitical vision and ideological markings. In this respect, the concepts of supranationalism and historic(al) rights as part of Russian consolidation practices are analyzed more concretely. In those attempts, Russia also included international lawyers from the region. Yet even if Russia formally achieved that task by forming a separate epistemic community of international lawyers in Russia-centered sociological arrangements, it failed to make them Russia-apologetics. 

Finally, the dissertation set forth argumentative structures on how regional international law can be utilized as a framework to boost the effective applicability of international law in the post-Soviet Eurasian region. Examining the desovietization process, it offers conclusions on the Eurasian standing of the uti possidetis juris principle.