European Security and Defence
Journal: Research Repository UCD (University College Dublin)
Year: 2016

In a world where the global legal order is thin and often fragile, we continue to rely heavily on older legal foundations of territorial sovereignty. In Europe, the very cradle of the Westphalian state model, challenges to that order are all the more shocking. Russia’s decision to annex Crimea—regardless of its perceived geostrategic justification—poses a stark and undeniable challenge to the post-Cold War order. While Russia cannot pose the kind of strategic threat offered at great domestic cos