About the Book
The regions that once comprised the Soviet Union have been the scene of crises with serious implications for international law. Some of these, like the separatist conflict in Chechnya, date to the time of the dissolution of the USSR. Others, like Russia's forcible annexation of Crimea and intervention in Ukraine's Donbas, erupted years later. The seizure of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, which took place long before, would trouble Soviet-western relations for the Cold War's duration and gained new relevance when the Baltic States reemerged in the 1990s. The fate of Ukraine notwithstanding, the Budapest Memorandum of 1994 complicates future efforts at nuclear nonproliferation. Legal proceedings in connection with events in the post-Soviet space brought before the International Court of Justice and under investment treaties or the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea may be steps toward the resolution of recent crises-or tests of the resiliency of modern international law.
About the Author :
Dr Thomas D. Grant studied history and law at Harvard, Yale, and Cambridge. He has been an academic visitor at Heidelberg and Stanford and was a junior research fellow at Oxford. Since 2002, Grant has been a Fellow of the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law and Wolfson College, University of Cambridge. He is the author of, among other books, Aggression against Ukraine (Palgrave Macmillan 2015). Grant has published in a range of academic journals, including the American Journal of International Law, German Yearbook of International Law, and Polish Yearbook of International Law; is a contributing author of the Max-Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law, and a founding editor of the Journal of International Dispute Settlement. He is the editor for recognition of states and state succession, among other topics, in the forthcoming 10th edition of Oppenheim’s International Law (Oxford University Press). He acts as counsel, expert, and advisor before the International Court of Justice, investment tribunals, and national courts. The author of the foreword: Stephen M. Schwebel was, from 1997 to 2000, the President of the International Court of Justice at The Hague.
Review :
"Any international practitioner dealing with Eastern Europe today appreciates that the legal future of the region is shaped by its Soviet past. With Dr Grant's invaluable collection of insights in hand, key elements of that landscape are revealed across different times and places."—Emmanuel Gaillard, Global Head of Disputes Group and Head of International Arbitration practice, Shearman & Sterling LLP
"Dr Tom Grant is one of the best and keenest legal observers of the post-Soviet space in the West."— Lauri Mälksoo, Professor of International Law at the University of Tartu (Estonia) and the author of "Russian Approaches to International Law"
"Dr Grant's two-volume edition does a great service in clarifying the rules of international law at stake, demonstrating how Russia has violated them, and drawing lessons for an international community that seeks adherence to the rule of law."—Amb. Kurt Volker, Executive Director, McCain Institute for International Leadership, Arizona State University
"Tom Grant takes a generalist international lawyer's perspective to what he calls the post-Soviet space. The stellar quality of his argument will make this collection of considerable interest to generalists and indispensable to those academics and practitioners that engage with international legal issues in relation to the region."—Dr Martins Paparinskis, Reader in Public International Law, University College London
"The expertise of Tom Grant regarding International Law and the post-Soviet Space is perfectly reflected in the present book collecting his main writings on the most topical and contemporary issues of that region. This is a definite must-read for anyone interested in grasping the intricacies of how international law is attempting to play its role in this particular region."—Julien Fouret, international dispute resolution specialist, BETTO SERAGLINI (Paris)
"Tom Grant's thoughtful writings address head-on one of the most intractable questions posed by international law: How to apply the standards governing the behavior of States to a State that refuses to adjust its behavior to those standards. In a fascinating series of studies of the legal issues presented by the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Dr. Grant ably traces the behavior of the Russian Federation as it seeks to re-establish the domination of adjacent territory achieved by the Soviet Union and the Russian Empire before it, and demonstrates chillingly how the Russian Federation has managed to skirt or to defy the norms of international law in each instance."—John M. Townsend, Partner and Co-chair, Arbitration Practice Group, Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP
"This is a timely and important contribution on burning international law issues in the ex-USSR territory still 30 years after the demise of the Empire. Dr Grant's work shows that rules of international law offer a frame for the examination of the many problems, sometimes they may suggest the possible solutions, and certainly they keep the disputes alive."—Judge Ineta Ziemele, President of the Constitutional Court of Latvia
"Nowhere has the fabric of the post-Cold War international order been tested as much as in the region of the former Soviet Union, from Chechnya to Crimea. The post-Soviet space is where assumptions about the end of history and the emergence of a new, more durable international rules-based are being tested and assessed. This volume, collecting in one place the work, observations and adjudications of Thomas Grant as they relate to questions such as self-determination and territorial integrity, provides an important look at how the two decades following the collapse of the USSR are setting precedents which will shape the international environment of the mid-21st century."—Nikolas Gvosdev, Senior fellow, Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs
“Grant’s two volumes help fill the gap in the international-law literature in grappling with the pressing legal and political issues in the region.” –The Russian Review, Vol.79, No.2
"The book is valuable for anyone wishing to obtain a conventional view of international legal questions surrounding these post-Soviet regions. It is safe to trust Grant’s dogmatic arguments and his thorough grasp of historical detail. […] While more critical interrogations may have enriched the book, their absence does not spoil Thomas D. Grant’s flawless analyses of international law regarding the legal status of Chechnya and the Baltic states across time."—Andreas Pacher, Europe-Asia Studies, 72:10
