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This paper is an attempt to better understand a hard-core security issue through a feminist lens or to grasp a new 'Great Game' (3) emerging in central Eurasia by using a feminist understanding of power. The war in Ukraine is considered pivotal to the direction of world history, global order, and the very architecture of the international system. While NATO and Western powers are reluctant to go into a direct military confrontation with Russia over Ukraine, sanctions on Russia have repercussions that extend way beyond Russian borders. Specifically, the former Soviet republics of Central Asia and South Caucasus--which have continued to be almost an integrated part of the extended Russian economy--are experiencing a stronger impact of sanctions than initially planned by the international community. This paper aims to address the unintended consequences of sanctions against Russia on the extended Eurasian space. It claims that sanctions against Russia represent both a trap and an opportunity for the so-called small states in Central Asia and South Caucasus, subjecting them to the patterns of the world hierarchies on one hand and providing the space for maneuver, on the other. A question in focus here is what conditions the so-called small Eurasian actors may need to overcome to remove themselves from Russian dependency. This article relies on the ontology of feminist security studies by focusing on the marginal actors of the Great Game, discovering that resilience is another form of soft power in today's international relations. Keywords: Great Game, Sanctions against Russia, Central Asia, South Caucasus, Feminist security studies, Feminist ontology, Soft power, Geopolitics, Introduction Reportedly, sanctions against Russia, which followed its invasion of Ukraine, have led to alternative global supply chains and the 'shadow shipping and financing infrastructure' to be created, making the [...]

Transparency has been touted as a cure for facilitating the independence of candidates selected by the States for international tribunals and, therefore, for increasing the legitimacy of these tribunals. Based on a case study of the judicial selection procedure of the ECtHR judge in Georgia, this article suggests that emphasizing the potential of transparency and publicity of the national selection process is misleading because even the drastically enhanced transparency of the process is not a cure for its higher legitimation. By connecting the scholarship on transparency of the selection process for the judges of international tribunals with the literature on informal governance networks, this article cautions against the excessive focus on transparency at the expense of a deeper understanding of the local context in which the selection and nomination processes occur. Drawing on informality studies in the former Soviet Union, the article aspires to initiate a discussion on the policy reform steps pertaining to the operations of informal governance networks in judicial selection processes. This article presents a more realistic and restricted conception of transparency – transparency specialis – which we advocate, will be useful in designing the national judicial selection process. Transparency specialis is an understanding that transparency of the selection process is useful; however, where informal governance is prevalent, transparency solely will not result in a fair and impartial process without the relevant and all-encompassing judiciary reforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Legal transplants scholarship has thoroughly examined the transnational diffusion of legal institutions. Although Article 38 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice acknowledges that international law draws upon domestic legal systems, the exchange of legal institutions between states and international law has yet to receive similar treatment. This article highlights the process of vertical diffusion - that is, the borrowing of legal institutions between the nation-state and international law. Vertical diffusion takes place in two forms: downward and upward diffusion. Scholarship on the internalization and vernacularization of international law has highlighted the process of downward diffusion. This article offers a theory of internationalization of law and the emergence of internationalized legal transplants. It draws on a study of the internationalization of the amicus curiae participation procedure from the United Kingdom to the European Court of Human Rights. Three main conditions must be present for internationalization: the institution's structural transformation that results in a law-making opportunity, norm entrepreneurs, and access to the decision-making body. The study of internationalized legal transplants is important to have a more fine-grained perspective on the making of international law. The evidence of the diffusion of legal institutions between domestic law and international law also creates a bridge between international law and comparative law scholarship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The most recent humanitarian crisis on the Italian island of Lampedusa is an important point to reexamine critically the human rights of stateless persons under international law. This article identifies serious deficiencies across the international regime for the protection of stateless persons. By examining the genealogy of the international legal regime on statelessness, tracing it from recognition to implementation, the article argues that the lack of state participation and enforcement are the main impediments to the effectiveness of all categories of treaties related to statelessness. Through studying the justiciability of stateless persons' claims under the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and its implementation machinery, the article traces procedural, substantive, and wider structural obstacles that stand in the way of realization of stateless people's rights. Finally, the article proposes a set of recommendations that can partially remedy some of the problems raised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]