The problem of defining the term 'soft law’

The paper deals with the problem of defining the ambiguous legal phenomenon of soft law and its characteristics. The paper focuses on different doctrinal approaches to interpreting this category. The author provides a critical review of several approaches to dealing with soft law. It is determined by the fact that they present the evidence-based analysis of the legal effect of soft law tools and means, and there is no due consideration for the definition of the relevant phenomenon. The research methods include the analysis and comparison of different views of Russian and international scientists on the subject matter. The major findings of the study are the distinction between the theoretical legal and social legal approaches to explaining the concept of soft law and the definition of several significant characteristics of this phenomenon.