ABSTRACT
69This chapter examines the role of international law in Russia from a sociological perspective. It adopts a systemic–functionalist model for interpreting the use of international law, arguing that, historically, Russian society was marked by a low differentiation of the legal system, and, in consequence, by a low differentiation of the political system. Primary results of this were: (a) limited social penetration of the legal system; (b) limited legal consistency; (c) low societal confidence in the law; (d) weak abstraction of the political system against societal influence; (e) high levels of political patrimonialism; (f) intense regional centrifugalism. On this basis, the chapter challenges more commonplace historical accounts of Russia as a society possessing a dominant political system. Against this background, the chapter argues that international law has been strategically assimilated in Russian society as a medium that facilitates the consolidation of the legal system and the political system, and which establishes a foundation for the construction of law and politics as distinct, differentiated institutional systems. It explains how the domestic assimilation of international law – both in legal rulings and in general litigation practices – is at the center of a process of compensatory differentiation of law and politics. This process in turn has implications for the enforcement of constitutional law. International law usually enters domestic law through processes linked to constitutional interpretation, which means that the constitution develops a distinctive, semi-autonomous position in the Russian polity. Arguments will be illustrated through analysis of case law, litigation patterns, and statistical data.
