Rein Mullerson was Deputy Foreign Minister of Estonia during the country's independence struggles. This work concerns the interplay of international law and politics in the changing international system. The text analyzes events in Eastern Europe and the former USSR to throw light on broad issues including non-use of force; non-interference in internal affairs; self-determination of peoples; minorities and nationalism in inter-ethnic conflicts; and human rights in post-totalitarian societies. Controversial questions of continuity and succession of states are also examined. The book demonstrates how recent developments influence the international system as a whole and how international law has to change in order to respond to new challenges.
