ABSTRACT
At the beginning of the millennium, regionalization trends were expectedly reflected in the creation of the SCO. Now the SCO is one of the rapidly developing centers of the multipolar world. In this chapter, authors attempt to make a generalized analysis of the SCO’s activities over the 20-year period of its existence and highlight new ways and forms of cooperation between the SCO member states. The chapter is aimed to analyze the legal nature of the SCO and the legal frameworks for regulating the relations between them: terms of membership, its criteria and legal status of interacting states; a constructive dialogue on the choice of SCO development in favor of globalization or regionalization; the question of expanding or non-expanding the membership; the perspectives of intercommunications between SCO members. Special attention is paid to the basic principles of international law that should underlie the functioning of the SCO: the chapter critically examines the relationship between the concept of separatism and the generally recognized principle of the nation’s right to self-determination; the lack of a universally recognized principle of respect for human rights and freedoms in relations between member states. Finally, the chapter provides a legal analysis of the provisions on the admission of new SCO members, status of observer states, and dialogue partner states. Authors note effective aspects of cooperation between states, as well as the declarative character of the SCO.
