International law- or rules-based international order? The politics of international law in comparative perspective

Brglez, Milan (author)

The article analyses contemporary contestation over global order by distinguishing between an international law-based order (ILBO) and a rules-based international order (RBO). It argues that the post2008 polycrises and the multipolarisation of the international community have weakened the institutional effectiveness of the liberal international order (LIO) and reopened the question of legitimate legality. The article compares the ILBO, anchored in sources doctrine, the Charter of the United Nations, and interpretative methods of international law, with the RBO as a broader and more politically interpretative framework. The comparison is organised around three criteria: normative structure, institutional infrastructure, and enforcement. The article then develops a comparative typology of state strategies and draws on Critical Legal Studies to understand international law as a field of political struggle. It concludes by developing strategic legalism as a way for small states to use international law relationally when managing power asymmetries within the international community

• Language: English
• Keywords: comparative politics, international law-based order (ILBO), liberal international order (LIO), rules-based international order (RBO, strategic legalism
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FDV - Faculty of Social Sciences
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2026
• Number of pages: Str. 93-126
• Numbering: Vol. 19, no. 2
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-186640
• UDC: 061.1EU
• ISSN on article: 1338-1385
• COBISS.SI-ID: 286501891
• Publication date in RUL: 03.09.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Journal of comparative politics
• Publisher: Department of Political Science, Center for Analysis of Administrative-Political Processes and Institutions, Alma Mater Europea-European Centre Maribor (AMEU-ECM)
• ISSN: 1338-1385
• COBISS.SI-ID: 29224285

Licences

• License: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
• Description: A Creative Commons license that bans commercial use and requires the user to release any modified works under this license.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Na mednarodnem pravu ali na pravilih utemeljen mednarodni red? Politika mednarodnega prava v primerjalni perspektivi

Abstract

Članek analizira strukturne in politične dejavnike, ki omejujejo globljo integracijo v varnostni in obrambni politiki Evropske unije po letu 2014, zlasti po ruski invaziji na Ukrajino leta 2022. Avtor trdi, da glavna ovira za globljo obrambno integracijo ni nezadostna vojaška zmogljivost, temveč vztrajanje politične, strateške in obrambno-industrijske fragmentacije med državami članicami. Študija uporablja konceptualno usmerjeno kvalitativno analizo, ki združuje primerjalno politično analizo, politično ekonomijo in študije evropskih integracij. Preučuje razhajajoče se strateške kulture, fragmentirane obrambno-industrijske strukture in institucionalne omejitve glavnih obrambnih pobud EU. Analiza kaže, da je geopolitični pritisk pospešil obrambno sodelovanje, ne da bi bistveno presegel medvladni pristop ali nacionalna strateška razhajanja. Posledično se sodobna obrambna integracija EU interpretira kot proces diferencirane in politično oporekane integracije, namesto kot linearni prehod k enotni evropski obrambni uniji.

• Keywords: liberalni mednarodni red utemeljen na mednarodnem pravu, mednarodni red, red utemeljen na pravilih, primerjalna politika, LIO, RBO, ILBO, red, strateški legalizem

Projects

• Funder: ARIS - Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency
• Project number: P5-0177-2015
• Name: Slovenija in njeni akterji v mednarodnih odnosih in evropskih integracijah