Methodological basis of the research of state responsibility under international law

Abstract

The complexity of modern political and legal relations that arise with the onset of international responsibility significantly increases the importance of developing a methodological basis for the concept of state responsibility under international law. The article highlights the methodological basis of the study of the sphere of international responsibility of states. The article reveals the content of civilizational, axiological, historical-legal and conceptual-comparative approaches, which contributes to a deeper understanding of the nature of international law and the essence of international responsibility, the patterns of functioning and the development of norms on the international responsibility of states. It has been established that the main principles of the civilizational approach contribute to considering the peculiarities of understanding and applying the main categories of international responsibility through the prism of the interaction of civilizations and their dialogue. From the standpoint of the axiological approach, the value of a number of categories significant for the sphere of international legal responsibility is revealed, in particular, the term "responsibility" itself, as well as such political and legal values as freedom, equality, justice, solidarity, tolerance, respect for all human rights. The application of the historical-legal approach allows, among others, to investigate of the development of international legal opinion regarding the concept of "responsibility" in international law from the earliest times; to analyze the stages of the UN International Law Commission's work on the codification of norms on the international responsibility of states; to trace the evolution of the concept of an internationally wrongful act of the state and highlight the issue of its normative consolidation, to investigate the development of the concept of the responsibility of states for lawful activity. The toolkit of the conceptual-comparative approach with its methods of macro- and micro-comparison, synchronic and diachronic, normative, textual, and doctrinal comparisons is helpful in comparing the studied phenomena. The application of the approaches analyzed in the article allows for a comprehensive study of the issues of state responsibility, to develop an international legal concept of state responsibility in international law, to consider the specifics of state responsibility for the illegal conduct of state and non-state actors in conditions of modern political and legal processes.