Abstract
The dicult historical developments of three of the Visegrád (V4) countries, namely the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary, inuenced the role of international lawyers, both in academia and practice. Indeed, international law and its scholarship cannot be dissociated from politics, which is also true in this part of Europe.
Their legal systems and academia had their roots in the Western European traditions. However, their development suered because of almost six decades of totalitarian regimes (Nazi and communist) between 1939 and 1989.
Even though they are now part of the European organizations, their relatively long isolation probably caused them to be viewed as semi-peripheral, from the point of view of the West. At the same time, the experience of these countries contributes to a higher sensitivity to the issues of peace, Statehood, and sovereignty.
Since these values were not for long present, they are not taken for granted and need to be protected.