International Humanitarian Law and Russian Conservatism

Abstract

The article characterizes the approach of Russian conservative thought to the problem of legal regulation of armed conflicts.
As conservatives had little faith in the regulative potential of international public law as a whole, their approach to international humanitarian law was in line with this view. This weakness of faith in the possibility of universal peace enforced by exclusively legal means had a strong sociological, culturological and anthropological basis.
From the conservative point of view, limitations of international law, unlike those of national law understood as a “minimum of morality”, went beyond the requirements of Christian morality which was relevant for the conservative understanding of law. Therefore, the respect or non-respect of these limitations may be made totally dependent on the principle of reciprocity.
Conservatives had no doubts that the principle of reciprocity was crucial for fair international relations. In cases of violations of international law in general and international humanitarian law in particular the principle of reciprocity was interpreted as part of the responsibility mechanism. However, possible reprisals must not undermine the basis of State structure and contradict the basic legal principles of the State applying such reprisals.
On the one hand, during the whole period of the development of international humanitarian law (the last third of the 19th and the first quarter of the 20th century) the conservative approach to it did not change significantly. On the other hand, conservatives recognized the necessity of international conflicts and condemned States that gravely breached international agreements during armed conflicts; they welcomed practical achievements in the field of international humanitarian law.
The conclusion is that the proponents of conservative understanding of law were not legal nihilists in their evaluation of international humanitarian law. Their criticism was levelled, finally, against uncritical and misleading overestimation of the potential of legal institutions and procedures, as well as against dishonest attempts by some States or groups of States to use the weaknesses of existing legal mechanisms to the detriment of the other members of the international community. However, when a conservative is convinced that an aspect of armed conflicts may be regulated by legal means he works towards making existing rules more efficient and even insists on further development and adoption of the rules of international humanitarian law.