The crisis of international law: civilizational and geopolitical factors

Introduction: the paper demonstrates that the crisis of international law is an important aspect of the crisis of modern civilization. This is expressed by inability of international law to respond to modern challenges and to ensure a stable world order. Objective: to reveal the factors, which determine and intensify the crisis of international law. Methodological framework: of the research is based on the philosophy of materialism, dialectics (development, universal communication, determinism), scientific methods of analysis and synthesis and comparative legal method. Moreover, the author applies formational and civilizational approaches to the interpretation of the law. Results: the paper presents a phenomenological analysis of the crisis of international law and shows that the crisis is appeared in the legal nihilism and cynicism, in the practice of double standards, in the violation of contractual obligations and other phenomena of the illegal culture. Based on the history of the humanity of the late XX and early XXI centuries the research suggests that the United States is the most expert subject, which practices legal nihilism and double standards in international politics. Conclusions: according to the author, there are three groups of factors, which contribute the crisis and devaluation of international law. These groups include doctrinal, civilizational and geopolitical factors. Doctrinal factors cause various violations of international law. In turn civilizational and geopolitical factors are crucial in its destruction. According to the author’s opinion, peculiarities of the process of settling of capitalism in the United States, as well as the status of the state in the modern world, contributed to the formation of the American political and legal thinking, which is different from the continental Europe. In the situation of a bipolar world the tendency of the political elite of the United States to solve complex international problems by force was restrained by the Soviet Union. The collapse of the Soviet Union had negative legal consequences for international law. Legal nihilism, the practice of double standards has become a widespread phenomenon in the situation of monopolar world. The non-uniformity of historical process contributes to the displacement of the center of world history from the New World to Asia. This process gave rise to geopolitical crisis. The United States are trying by all means to stop the centrifugal tendencies and return the humanity to a monopolar world despite international law and international institutions. Such activity leads to the destruction of civilization based on right and to the return to the cave law of force.