Regionalism in International Economic System: a Challenge to International Law?

INTRODUCTION. The trend to further growth in number of regional organizations in trade and economic area gave rise to the dispute on the effect of this process either on the world economic system, or the effect of International Law (general principles and universal treaties) on regional legal orders, and relations between regional organizations and third states. Regionalism is described as a natural process, providing for achievement the goals inaccessible in plurilateral cooperation. The article focuses on the application of general principles of International Law and provisions of universal treaties, including WTO Agreements, to the relations between members and outer relations of regional organizations. From this point of view the universal foundations for regional cooperation, reinforced in the UN Charter, constituent agreements and other legal acts of most developed regional institutions of different forms and degree or integrity are under discussion. Special attention is paid to regional hybrid organizations (for political and economic cooperation) and to the regulation of interregional (interintegration’s) relations, which points out to an emerging trend in the context of regionalism.

MATERIALS AND METHODS. The basic scientific materials for this article were publications of Russian and foreign scholars in the field of economic and integration law. International treaties and other international acts form the legal basis of the investigation. Methodological foundation includes general scientific methods, such as analysis, synthesis, induction and deduction; and special methods: formal-legal, technical-legal, legal analogy, comparative legal method.

RESEACH RESULTS. As follows from UN Charter, constitutive and other acts of regional organizations of economic integration, the creation of these entities is based on the general principles of International Law. Regional acts contain references to universal rules of International Law to be applied to the relations between members of these organizations in special situations; the universal rules of International Law proved to be the instrument for regulation the relations between regional integrations with third states and the relations of interregional (interintegration’s) cooperation.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS. The processes of regionalism are based on the principles of UN Charter, applied to the states constituting integrations, proceeding from their status of the subjects of International Law. The integrated entity in the form of international regional organization, being the subject of International Law as well, shall follow these principles, getting into relations with other subjects of International Law. Therefore, the rules of Universal International Law do not lose its relevance for interregional (interintegration’s) cooperation. Certain changes in International Law, namely the increasing role of “soſt” law, are the result of regionalism. However, the need in universal regulator, either “hard” or “soſt”, in international economic system seems to remain immutable.

1. Aleksanyan L.M. Latino-amerikanskii vector mezhdunarodnogo sotrudnichestva [Latin America vector of international cooperation]. – Sotsial’nye i gumanitarnye nauki. Otechestvennaya i zarubezhnaya literatura. Ser.9. Vostokovedenie i afrikanistika [Social sciences and humanities. Domestic and foreign literature. Series 9. Oriental and African Studies]. 2024. No 1. С. 15-19. DOI:10.31249/RVA/2024.01.01. (In Russ.)

2. Bokeriya S.A. Vzaimosvyaz’ global’noi i regional’noi system bezopasnosti (na primere OON, ODKB i SHOS) [Interconnection of global and regional systems of security (by example of UN, CSTO and SCO]. – Vestnik mezhdunarodnykh organizatsii. 2019. T. 14. No 1. S. 21-38. DOI:10.17323/1996-7845-2019-01-02. (In Russ.)

3. Entin K.V. Rol’ mezhdunarodnykh dogovorov i mezhdunarodnogo obychnogo prava v pravoporyadke ES i EAES [The role of international treaties and international customary law in the legal order of EU and UAEU].– Mezhdunarodnoe pravosudie [International justice]. 2021. No. 1 (37). S. 102-130. DOI:10.21128/22-26-2059-2021-1-102-130. (In Russ.)

4. Gadzhdiev K.A. Vseob”emlushchee regional’noe ekonomicheskoe partnerstvo: printsipy i napravltniya sotrudnichestva [Universal regional economic area: principles and vectors of cooperation]. – Vlast’ [Power]. 2022. Nо. 5. S.129-132. DOI: 10.31171/vlast.v30i5.9252. (In Russ.)

5. Ispolinov A.S. Sanktsii Soveta bezopasnosti OON, Sudy ES i prava cheloveka [UN Security Council sanctions, EU Courts and Human rights]. URL: https://studfile.net/preview/16828076/ (accessed date: 29.03.2026). (In Russ.)

6. Ispolinov A.S. Printsip avtonomnosti prava Evrosojuza, ego vneshnee izmerenie i rol’ v protsesse konstitutsializatsii ES [Autonomy of the European Union Law: External dimension and Role in Process of EU Costitututionalization]. – Pravo. Zhurnal Vysshei shkoly ekonomiki [Law. Journal of the Higher School of Economics]. 2022 Vol. 15. No. 5. S. 251-277. DOI: 10.17323/2072-8166.2022.5.251.277. (In Russ.)

7. Iutiaeva I.R. Sotrudnichestvo OON i EKOVAS v sfere mirotvorcheskoi deyatel’nosti. – Vostok. Afro-aziatskie obshchestva: istoriia i sovremennost’ [Cooperation between the UN and ECOWAS in the field of peacekeeping]. 2022. Vyp. 5. S. 68-79. DOI: 10.31857/S086919080019652-4. (In Russ.)

8. Korolev A.S., Krasheninnikova L.S., P’atachkova A.S. Aziatskii vector mezhdunarodnogo sotrudnichestva EAES: vzaimodeistvie s SHOS, ATES i ASEAN, perspektivy sopr’azhdeniia s EPSHP [Asian vector of UAEU international cooperation: relation with SCO, ATES and ASEAN; perspective of conjunction with OROB]. – V poiskakh novoi arkhitektury i mnogopolyarnosti: mezhdunarodnoe sotrudnichestvo EAES. Dokl. k XXI Apr. mezhdunnar.nauch. konf. po problemam razvitiya ekonomiki i obshchestva [In search of a new architecture of multipolarity: international cooperation of the EAEU. Report to the XXI April International Scientific Conference on Economic and Social Development]. Moscow: NIU VSHE Publ. 2020. P.72-79. (In Russ.)

9. Kurtz J. Regional Trade Agreements and the WTO Legal System. – European Journal of International Law. 2008. April. Р. 449-450. DOI: 10.1093/ejil/chn020.

10. Lifshits I.M. Chlenstvo Evropeiskogo Soyuza v mezhdunarodnikh organizatsiyakh v konterste ego pravosub’’ektnosty [EU Membership in International Organizations in the Context of Its Personality]. – Moskovskij zhurnal mezhdunarodnogo prava [Moscow Journal of International Law]. 2019. No. 1 P. 54-67. DOI: 10.24833/0869-0049-2019-1-54-67. (In Russ).

11. Medvedkov M.Yu. EAES i VTO – perspektivy sblizhdeniya [UAEU and WTO – perspective of rapprochement]. – V poiskakh novoi arkhitektury i mnogopolyarnosti: mezhdunarodnoe sotrudnichestvo EAES. Dokl. k XXI Apr. mezhdunnar.nauch.konf. po problemam razvitiya ekonomiki i obshchestva [In search of a new architecture of multipolarity: international cooperation of the EAEU. Dokl. to the XXI Apr. international Scientific Conference on the problems of economic and social development]. Moscow: NIU VSHE Publ. 2020. S.112-118. (In Russ.)

12. Mezhdunarodno-pravovye problemy sovremennogo mezhdunarodnogo ekonomicheskogo pravoporyadka: kollektivnaya monografiya. Pod. red. V.M.Shumilov [International legal problems of modern international economic legal order: a collective monograph. Ed. By V.M. Shumilov. Moscow: Rus. Academy of external trade Publ. 2024. 176p. (In Russ.)

13. Naku A.A. Transtikhookeanskoe partnerstvo i vsestoronnee regional’noe ekonomicheskoe partnerstvo kak mezhdunarodno-pravovaya model’ economicheskoi integratsii v Aziatsko-Tikhookeanskom regione. – Aziatsko-Tikhookeanskii region: ekonomika, politika, pravo. 2024. No 3. S. 55-72. DOI: 10.24866/1813-3274/2024-3/55-72. (In Russ.)

14. Prognozy razvitiya mezhdunarodnogo ekonomicheskogo prava i mezhdunarodnogo pravoporyadka v XXI veke [Development forecasts of International economic law and legal order in XXI century]. Kollektivnaya monografiya. 2026. Pod red. V.M. Shumilova. Moscow: Rus. Academy of external trade Publ. 2026. 162 p. (In Russ.)

15. Redesigning the World Trade Organization for the Twenty-First Century. Wilfrid Laurier University Press. 498 p.

16. Shongwe M.N. The Fragmentation of the Multilateral Trading System: The Impact of Regionalism on WTO Law. Universiteit Amsterdam Faculty of Law. 2017. 39 p.

17. Sigauri-Gorskii E.R. Mezhdunarodno-pravovye problemy mekhanizma razresheniya sporov v ASEAN v sootvetstvii s Dogovorom o druzhdbe i sotrudnicgestve v Yugo-Vostochnji Azii 1976 g.: k apologii paradoksa [International legal problems of dispute settlement mechanism in ASEAN according to the Treaty on friendship and cooperation in South-East Asia 1976: to the apology of paradox]. – Aziatsko-Tikhookeanskii region: ekonomika, politika, pravo [Asia-Pacific region: economics, politics, law]. 2025. Т. 27. No. 4. S.66-77. DOI: 10.24866/1813-3274/2025-4/66-77. (In Russ.)

18. Taifeng C. Regional Trade Agreements vs. Multilateral Trading System: A Study of Chinese Interests and Policy Options. Norwegian Institute of International Affairs. 2009. 46 p.

19. Talimonchik V.P. Primenenie mezhdunarodnykh dogovorov Sudom EAES [Application of international treaties by UAEU Court]. – Evrasiiskii yuridicheskii zhurnal [The Eurasian Law Journal]. 2022. No. 3 (166). S. 18-21. DOI: 10.46320/2073-4506-2022-3-166-18-21. (In Russ.)

20. Zemanek K. Venskaya konventsiya o prave dogovorov mezhdu gosudarstvami i mezhdunarodnymi organizatsiyami ili mezhdu mezhdunarodnymi organizatsiyami [The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties]. (In Russ.) URL: https://legal.un.org/avl/pdf/ha/vcltsio/vcltsio-r.pdf (accessed date: 11.01.2026).

21. Zvartsev I.A. Mezhdunarodnyi opyt MERKOSUR [International experience of MERKOSUR]. – Vestnik nauki [Bulletin of Science]. 2023. No. 8 (65). S. 428-431. (In Russ.)