Shanghai Cooperation Organisation: Reassessment of the Priorities Against the Background of Old Problems and New Challenges. Book Review: «The Shanghai Cooperation Organization: Exploring New Horizons»

Abstract

This review examines the results of the unique international study devoted to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). The project was carried out on the initiative of eminent Russian specialists and covers the period of the SCO’s formation, the search for new areas of cooperation, and promising fields of interaction among the participating countries. The authors (including lawyers and economists) assess the current state of this regional organization and its future, which allows us to form a quite complete understanding of the SCO and the emerging directions of its development. The monograph was produced by a reputable foreign publishing house, reflecting an attention to regionalization that is especially noticeable against the background of the slowing processes of legal regulation at the universal level in recent years. The monograph reveals the reasons for the states within the SCO to unite efforts for realization of their common interests, which are not limited to traditional cooperation in the field of security. The team of authors pays attention to the specifics of the legal systems of the member states and the relations between the countries, as well as the SCO’s successful responses to challenges in the field of labour and migration, energy, environmental protection, transport, and logistics links. Such an approach reflects the conditions of the national legal implementation of international obligations by SCO members. The main features of the Eurasian concept of human rights are formulated, the existence and significance of which is proclaimed. The study provides necessary diagrams, graphs, and tables. General scientific and special methods of cognition were used in this review to show the structure of the monograph, the individual conclusions of the authors, and proposals. The review offers conclusions about the gradual evolution of the SCO, the growth of the humanitarian component of its competence, and the existing contradictions between the potential of the organization and the results achieved.