Methodological innovations in soviet international legal doctrine

The newer methodological approaches to international law and relations developed are finding their adherents among Soviet international lawyers. Soviet international legal writing is taking fuller account of a broader range of publications abroad and in doing so is engaging in a more sophisticated and differentiated critique of contrary views rather than simply dismissing them. Not only has their emergence had no deprecatory effect on international law, as some Soviet jurists once feared, but they have infused a new vitality and possibly a new style into doctrinal writings. The chapter discusses future prospects for the development of international legal regulation together with what the author calls the Soviet programme for peace. Most western international lawyers in his view, however, associate themselves with Kelsenian positivism and by implication presumably most Soviet international lawyers are content to retain their traditional methods. Soviet writings show the receptiveness to systems analysis among philosophers, sociologists, legal theorists, mathematicians, and specialists in international relations.