A State of Interregnum in Rule-Based International Order and the Russian–Ukrainian War

Abstract

This article reviews the recent Russian intervention in Ukraine from an international legal perspective that attempts to explain the state of violent engagement by referring to the change in the rule-based order, mutually constructed with the participation of multiple players. Recalling Russia’s arguments to justify the military aggression, the author argues that when taken within a broader context, the Russian-Ukrainian war could be better identified as a manifestation of the erosion in the rule-based international order, particularly in the legal mechanism that regulates use of force among nations.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Cenap Çakmak

Dr. Cenap Çakmak received his PhD in global affairs from Rutgers University. He currently works at Anadolu University, Eskişehir, Turkey. A former visiting researcher at the TMC Asser Institute, The Hague, and a visiting scholar at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Heidelberg, Çakmak has published books and articles on international criminal law, Turkish foreign policy and civil society. He edited Islam: a worldwide encyclopedia, a four-volume reference book. Dr. Çakmak’s most recent publications also include Institutional Change and the International Criminal Court, (Routledge, 2021), (with Ali Onur Özçelik) World Community and the Arab Spring (2019), A Brief History of International Criminal Law and the International Criminal Court (2017), Arab Spring, Civil Society and Innovative Activism (2016), and (with Murat Ustaoğlu) Post-Conflict Syrian Nation and State Building (2015), all four with Palgrave. He currently works on Islam and the law of armed conflict, focusing on divergence and convergence between Islamic principles of humanitarian conduct and the modern international humanitarian law. E-mail: [email protected]