Review of I.Z. Farkhutdinov’s Monograph “The Evolution of International Law – from Westphal to Versailles”, 2024

INTRODUCTION. The history of international law has attracted special attention of domestic legal scholars in the past and continues to arouse high scientific interest among legal researchers at the present time. There is no doubt that this issue will not cease to be the subject of serious scientific research in the future. The ongoing scientific study of issues related to the history of international law is quite justified. On the one hand, the ongoing development of international relations and modern trends in interstate interaction allow us to rethink past events in world life. On the other hand, the future sustainable and effective development of international law is impossible without analyzing the past. This is explained by the fact that turning to the accumulated experience of international legal regulation, as well as to early and subsequent concepts of international law, can provide invaluable assistance in solving the problems facing the world community in modern times. In this regard, there is no doubt about the relevance of the monograph by I.Z. Farkhutdinov «Evolution of International Law – from Westphal to Versailles», published in 2024. MATERIALS AND METHODS. The writing of this work is based both on the approaches and conclusions formulated in the monograph under review, and on the scientific works of domestic and foreign international lawyers on the issues under consideration. In preparing the review, general scientific and special methods of cognition used in legal research were used. RESEARCH RESULTS. The chronological framework of the presented study is designated by the adoption of a few important international documents, which, on the one hand, marked the completion of the Thirty Years' War of 1618-1648 and the First World War of 1914-1918, respectively, and, on the other hand, established certain models of international relations in a specific historical period. The monograph opens with a study of the origin of international law as a regulator of interstate relations. Then it moves on to the problems of the Vienna Congress and the formation of the Vienna system of international relations. The final part of the monograph is entitled «From Sarajevo to Versailles. From the «law of military conflicts» to the First World War. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS. In conclusion, it is noted that the monograph by I.Z. Farkhutdinov «Evolution of International Law – from Westphal to Versailles» is a monographic work with a deep personal view of the history of international law of the 16th-20th centuries, with extensive use of the achievements of related social sciences: history, theory of international relations, political science, which makes a significant contribution to the development of international legal science. On the one hand, it invites to discuss the stated topic, and on the other, serves as a guide for future legal research on the history of international law (both the legal system and science), as well as interstate relations. In addition, it is hoped that subsequent studies of the evolution of international law, covering other geographical and chronological frameworks of its historical development, will be reflected by the author of the monograph under review in his further scientific research.