Living in Interesting Times : Recollections of an International Lawyer - Participant and Observer.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Müllerson, Rein.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Lawyers.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (169 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Other Title:

Living in Interesting Times

Place of Publication:

Chicago : Austin Macauley Publishers, 2021.

Summary:

These are the memoirs and reflections on the most acute issues of the contemporary world by a boy from the Estonian countryside who, through accident and pure ambition, ended up as a professor at Moscow University and adviser to President Gorbachev on matters of international law. After a stint as head of Estonian diplomacy at crucial moments in the restoration of its independence, he later became a centennial professor at the LSE and chair of international law at King's College London. This is not a traditional autobiography. Besides reflecting on issues he dealt with while advising Soviet leaders, such as Yakovlev in his speech on the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact or the status of the Kuril Islands, and their repercussions in today's world, the book analyses the roots of the crisis within liberal democracy, the upsurge of populism, the rise of China and the re-emergence of Russia as a great power. A Marco Polo fellow at Jiaotong University in China and recently awarded the highest Russian Order for foreigners - the Friendship Order by President Putin, Professor Müllerson, who lives in London, feels equally at home discussing the renewal of great-power competition, the problems of the European Union including Brexit, the conflict in Ukraine, as well as the negative impacts of political correctness both in the former USSR and today's West. Having lived equal thirds of his life in three different worlds and worked in and visited many countries as a UN diplomat, he is a man who understands small country mentality, though being 'spoilt' by great-power mindset.

Contents:

Intro

Title Page

About the Author

Dedication

Copyright Information ©

Acknowledgement

Preface

Introduction

1- Childhood and Adolescence in Estonia

2- First Years in Russia with Reflections on the Role of Chance in History

3- The First Life-Changing Encounter Tunkin in Moscow University

4- From Academia to Gorbachev's Advisor

5- Advising Michael Gorbachev: the Two Major Cases - The Kuril Islands and The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact

6- The UN Human Rights Committee and Reflections on The Universality of Human Rights

7- The Collapse of the Soviet Union and Independence of Estonia

8- Another Imperial Capital - London

9- My Central Asian Experience

10- My Third Coming to Estonia

11- From Broken Promises to Cold War II: NATO Coming to Russia

12- The 1999 War Over Kosovo a Precursor of a New Cold War?

13- Ukraine: Victim of Geopolitics?

14- China Has Risen, Russia Is Back, the US is in Relative Decline New Geopolitical Realities

15- On Contemporary Revolutionary Situations in the World

16- Balance of Powers A Precondition for International Law and Relatively Peaceful World

17- Nation-State - A Cradle of Democracy

18- Revolution in the Western World: Democracy v. Liberalism

19- Instead of Conclusions: Is E Pluribus Unum Indeed Replacing Ex Uno Plures?.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9781398401945

1398401943

OCLC:

1249471550