Russia and the Right to Self-Determination in the Post-Soviet Space

Johannes Socher is a postdoctoral research fellow at Freie Universität 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.

• INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 1 THE SOVIET DOCTRINE ON THE RIGHT TO SELF-DETERMINATION REVISITED 1. Political and Ideological Foundations 2. The Soviet Contribution to the Codification of Self-determination 3. The Modifications in the Soviet Sphere of Influence 4. The Right to Self-determination in Soviet Scholarship 5. Conclusions CHAPTER 2 RUSSIA, THE RIGHT TO SELF-DETERMINATION AND SOVEREIGNTY 1. The Balance in the Russian Constitution 2. Case Study 1: Tatarstan 3. Case Study 2: Chechnya 4. Conclusions CHAPTER 3 RUSSIA, THE RIGHT TO SELF-DETERMINATION AND SECESSION 1. Russia's Position in the Kosovo Case 2. Case Study 3: Nagorno-Karabakh 3. Case Study 4: Transnistria 4. Case Study 5: South Ossetia 5. Case Study 6: Abkhazia 6. Conclusions CHAPTER 4 RUSSIA, THE RIGHT TO SELF-DETERMINATION AND ANNEXATION 1. Russia's Retrospective View on the Baltic States' Annexation in 1940 2. Case Study 7: Crimea 3. Conclusions CHAPTER 5 POST-SOVIET RUSSIAN SCHOLARSHIP ON SELF-DETERMINATION 1. Post-Soviet Scholarship of International Law in Russia: An Overview 2. Self-determination in Post-Soviet Russian Scholarship 3. Positions on 'Crimea' in Russian Scholarship 4. Conclusions Final Conclusions Acknowledgments Bibliography Index

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