The bridges and divides between politics and international law. (c2011)

Abstract

The present thesis analyzes the circumstances and fate of Kosovo‟s February 2008 unilateral declaration of independence, as an experimental case for the assertion of the relationship between politics and international law. The event which brought up the question is the fact that most of the countries that had recognized the independence of Kosovo did not oppose an October 2008 Russo/Serbian referral of the case to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) through the General Assembly of the United Nations (first legal variable). The second legal variable considered is of course the ICJ‟s July 2010 opinion. The working procedure exposes first the generalities of the relationship between politics and international law, determining this latter‟s origins and prospects, and thereafter checks whether the case of Kosovo can help either confirming the prevalence of such relationship or invalidating it. After exposing such generalities, the follow-up on the analysis takes essentially into consideration two political grand variables: (i) the current Euro-Balkan geopolitical map after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and (ii) the foreign policy change of the Obama administration vis-à-vis Russia as compared to that of the Bush Administration. A close comparison of the legal variables (in particular, the formulation of the ICJ‟s award) to the circumstances of the moment evidenced by the abovementioned political variables leads to the conclusion that there is indeed an extent of interplay between politics and international law. And this is proved by specific developments that took place after the ICJ rendered its opinion.