Factors Transforming the Contemporary International Legal Order

Abstract

The article examines the principal factors driving the transformation of the contemporary international legal order amid profound changes in the global security, political, economic, and technological environment. It argues that the full-scale armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine has become a catalyst for reassessing the effectiveness of existing mechanisms for ensuring international legality and compliance with the fundamental principles of international law enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations and other universal international legal instruments. The authors demonstrate that the current transformation of the international legal order does not involve a revision of its normative foundations but rather the emergence of new institutional, legal, and organisational mechanisms designed to ensure the effective implementation of international legal norms. The article identifies and systematises the principal structural factors shaping the transformation of the international legal order, including changes in the global security environment, geopolitical fragmentation, climate change and the development of international environmental law, the expansion of international sanctions regimes, digitalisation and the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence, as well as the evolving role of international courts and arbitral institutions. It further demonstrates the interrelationship between these factors and their cumulative impact on the development of contemporary international legal regulation. Particular attention is devoted to the analysis of emerging international legal mechanisms developed in response to current global challenges, including international sanctions regimes, compensation mechanisms, special tribunals, international damage registers, compliance procedures, due diligence mechanisms, advisory opinions of international judicial institutions, and the practice of international commercial and investment arbitration. The article substantiates that the development of these instruments increasingly contributes to maintaining the effective ordering of international relations and strengthening the international legal order. The authors conclude that the contemporary international legal order is undergoing a process of functional and institutional transformation, the essence of which lies in adapting the mechanisms for ensuring international legality to new global challenges while preserving the fundamental principles of international law. It is established that the further development of the international legal order will depend on the international community's ability to establish effective mechanisms to ensure compliance with international legal obligations, strengthen international responsibility, and restore confidence in multilateral mechanisms of international cooperation.