Legal nihilism

=== Russian Empire, Soviet Union and its successors ===

Andrzej Walicki thought that both bureaucracy of the Russian Empire and socialists that replaced them had the similar negative attitude toward law because of the Slavic character of Russia.{{cite book|author=Geir Flikke|title=Democracy or theocracy: Frank, Struve, Berdjaev, Bulgakov, and the 1905 Russian Revolution|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B04jAQAAIAAJ|year=1994|publisher=Universitetet i Oslo, Slavisk-baltisk avdeling|isbn=978-82-90250-63-3|page=53}} It is believed by many scholars and public figures that legal nihilism is still widely spread in some countries of former Soviet Union including Belarus, Ukraine and Russia. Russian president Dmitry Medvedev often spoke against legal nihilism identifying increasing of the strength of law and legal awareness of the people.{{cite book|author=Rose Gottemoeller|authorlink=Rose Gottemoeller|title=The U.S.-Russia Civil Nuclear Agreement: A Framework for Cooperation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=05Bj9EYq62MC&pg=PA48|accessdate=27 November 2013|year=2008|publisher=CSIS|isbn=978-0-89206-535-6|page=48|quote=Medvedev has repeatedly spoken out against "legal nihilism," most recently in his inaugural address, identifying the...}}{{cite book|author1=Isaiah "Ike" Wilson III|author2=James J F Forrest|title=Handbook of Defence Politics: International and Comparative Perspectives|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AHJUW2qA7I4C&pg=PA317|date=18 December 2008|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-136-63948-7|page=317}}{{cite book|author=Susan Stewart|authorlink=Susan Stewart (author)|title=Presidents, Oligarchs and Bureaucrats: Forms of Rule in the Post-Soviet Space|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vbYdjVkeKewC&pg=PA79|accessdate=27 November 2013|year=2012|publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.|isbn=978-1-4094-1250-2|page=79|quote=Medvedev knows this and he pledges tirelessly to overcome the traditional 'legal nihilism'.}} A pressure of the international public opinion has substantial influence on the struggle against internal legal nihilism in Russia.{{cite book|title=Sudebnik|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Pn84AQAAIAAJ|year=2003|publisher=Simmonds & Hill|page=253|quote=This might be the only hope for Russia to get out of the morass of internal legal nihilism. }}

International legal nihilism is denial of international law. It can be a consequence of dualist theory that international and national law are independent autonomous systems.{{cite book|author1=Valeriĭ Ivanovich Kuzne︠t︡sov|author2=B. R. Tuzmukhamedov|title=International Law - A Russian Introduction|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4Jo6AQAAIAAJ|date=15 June 2009|publisher=Eleven International Publishing|isbn=978-90-77596-76-0|page=165|quote=In essence, this leads to a denial of international law, to international-legal nihilism. The dualist theory proceeds from the fact that international and national law belong to autonomous legal systems independent of one another }} Serbian expert in international law Smilja Avramov publicly opposed the practice of Humanitarian interventionism, emphasizing that the main danger for the modern world is not nationalism nor communism but legal nihilism which she thinks was employed during the breakup of Yugoslavia.{{cite web|last=Avramov|first=Smilja|authorlink= Smilja Avramov|title=Beskrajno lutanje u tami|url=http://svetinjebraniceva.rs/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=471:2012-08-17-20-19-54&catid=38:2010-12-14-18-00-48&Itemid=59|website=svetinjebraniceva.rs/|accessdate=26 November 2013|language=Serbian|date=June 1999|quote=У име “заштите људских права„ на делу је “оружани хуманизам„, у име демократије на делу је “Томахавк демократија„. Опасност по свет не долази од национализма, па ни комунизма, него од правног нихилизма, који је дошао до пуног изражаја у процесу разарања Југославије од 1991. до данас.["Armed humanism" has been introduced in the name of "human rights protection", "Tomahawk democracy" has been introduced in the name of democracy. Main danger for the world does not come from nationalism nor communism, but from legal nihilism, which was fully employed during the process of destruction of Yugoslavia since 1991 until today.]}}

Jan Nederveen Pieterse believes that the United States is in the position of new universal Empire which succeeds Roman and British, but unlike them, the United States maintains "Pax" not on the basis of the rule of law, but on the rule of power. He also emphasized that breaches of the international law placed United States in the position of "international legal nihilism" and that USA does not recognize other polities as legitimate equals.{{cite book|author1=Jan Nederveen Pieterse|authorlink1=Jan Nederveen Pieterse|author2=Michael D. Giardina|author3=Norman K. Denzin|title=Contesting Empire, Globalizing Dissent: Cultural Studies After 9/11|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_KbZAAAAMAAJ|year=2007|publisher=Paradigm Publishers|isbn=978-1-59451-197-4|page=80|quote= The United States exists in a state of "international legal nihilism" with a steadily growing record of breaches of international law}}

{{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Legal nihilism}}

Category:Nihilism

Category:Philosophy of law