Aleksey Vasilyev

Education

In 1956 Vasiliev entered the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO). He studied abroad at the University of Cairo (1960–1961).

In 1962 Vasiliev graduated from the Department of Oriental Studies of the Faculty of International Relations, MGIMO.

In 1966 Vasiliev defended his Ph.D. thesis "Wahhabism and the First Saudi State in Arabia (18th century)" at the Institute of Oriental Studies, Moscow.

In 1981 Vasiliev defended his doctoral thesis "The Evolution of Socio-Political Structure of Saudi Arabia in 1745–1973" at the Institute of Oriental Studies, Moscow.

Biography

Vasiliev was born on April 26, 1939, in Leningrad (St. Petersburg) in the family of a serviceman. In 1956 he entered the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO). He interned at the University of Cairo (1960–1961). In 1962 he graduated from the Department of Oriental Studies of MGIMO and was assigned to the Pravda newspaper as an assistant political commentator. In 1967 Vasiliev was sent to Vietnam as Pravda's own war correspondent. At that time he also traveled to guerrilla-controlled zones in Laos. In 1969–1971 he worked for Pravda in Moscow, occasionally traveling abroad to report on events in "hot spots".

From 1971 to 1975 A.M. Vasiliev worked as a Pravda correspondent in Ankara, Turkey. He was responsible for the region that included Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, and the countries of the Arabian Peninsula. He also traveled to Syria to report on the Arab-Israeli war of 1973. In 1975–1979 he worked as Pravda's own correspondent in Egypt and was also responsible for Sudan, Libya, Yemen, and Ethiopia. From 1979 to 1983 he worked as a columnist on international relations at the central office of Pravda in Moscow.

From his very first days in the Pravda newspaper Vasiliev combined journalism and literary work with academic research.

In 1983 A.M. Vasiliev was appointed deputy director of the Institute for African Studies of the USSR Academy of Sciences. In 1992 he was elected Director of the institute. Subsequently, he was repeatedly re-elected. In 2015 he was elected Honorary President of the Institute for African Studies.

Vasiliev is married to Galina Sergeevna Vasilieva (Lyubushkina); has two daughters and three granddaughters.

Research interests and major contributions

The scope of scientific interests of A.M. Vasiliev includes fundamental issues of social and political history of Arab countries in new and modern times, international relations in the Middle East, including relations with Russia, the role of religion in the political struggle, social changes in the countries of the Middle East, ethno-psychological factors in public life in the region, as well as the problem of Islamic extremism and terrorism.

Most significantly, Vasiliev was the first in Russia (then Soviet Union) to study the phenomenon of Wahhabism from the works of its founder, Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, and his predecessors. Many of the issues raised in his doctoral dissertation, which was devoted to 18th century Saudi Arabia, have remained relevant to the study of Islamic extremism in the 21st century. The most important monograph by Vasiliev is the fundamental History of Saudi Arabia. It is the first study to provide a comprehensive study of social, economic, political and religious evolution of Saudi Arabia over the period of nearly 250 years. The book uses the broadest range of currently available sources in Arabic, Turkish, English, French, Italian, German, and Russian languages. It is also based on materials from Russian and Soviet archives. Some of the conclusions of the book reach beyond the boundaries of Saudi Arabia. The book is available in Russian, English and Arabic.

Vasiliev continued the study of Saudi Arabia and published a number of bibliographic works related to the kingdom. One of them is the 2012 work – King Faisal of Saudi Arabia: Personality, Faith and Times – makes an in-depth focus on the role of a person in history of a country. It also touches on the topic of significance of religion and spiritual ideas for the policies of states.

Vasiliev developed a theory of Muslim reformation, which underlines the role of Wahhabism at the time of the crisis of the feudal system of the Ottoman Empire. He further studied the features of pre-capitalist Middle Eastern societies (with the greatest focus on Saudi Arabia, other Gulf countries, and Egypt) and the specifics of the development of market relations in oil-producing countries and Arab countries in general. A defining feature of this research is that the economic analysis is accompanied with an overview of the evolution of the socio-political system in these countries.

Awards

Order of Friendship - "for his great contribution to the development and strengthening of relations between Russia and African states" (Presidential Decree of March 20, 2011 No. 328 "On awarding the Order of Friendship to Vasiliev A.M.).

Order of Honour.

Laureate of the Tarle Prize of the Russian Academy of Sciences (2003).

Honored Science Worker of the Russian Federation (1999).

Laureate of the State Prize of the Russian Federation

Various Russian state medals.

Publications

From Lenin to Putin. Russia in the Near and Middle East. – Moscow, 2018. ISBN 978-5-227-07511-6 (in Russian)

Russian Middle East Policy. From Lenin to Putin. – London, 2018. ISBN 978-1-138-56360-5 (hbk); ISBN 978-1-315-12182-6 (ebk)

Islamic Radical Movements on the Political Map of the Modern World. Volume 3. Afroasiatic Zone of Instability. (co-authored). – Moscow, 2018. ISBN 978-5-91298-219-4 (in Russian)

Islamic Radical Movements on the Political Map of the Modern World. Volume 2. North and South Caucasus. (co-authored). – Moscow, 2017. ISBN 978-5-7164-0719-0 (in Russian)

Africa and the Challenges of the 21st Century. – Moscow, 2012. ISBN 978-5-02-036501-8 (in Russian)

The Recipes of the Arab Spring. – Moscow, 2012. ISBN 978-5-4438-0148-3 (in Russian)

King Faisal of Saudi Arabia. Personality, Faith and Times. – London, 2012. ISBN 978-0-86356-689-9 (in English)

King Faisal of Saudi Arabia. Personality, Faith and Times. – Beirut, 2012. ISBN 978-1-85516-862-6 (in Arabic)

King Faisal of Saudi Arabia. Personality, Faith and Times. – Moscow, 2010. ISBN 978-5-02-036408-0 (in Russian)

Egypt and the Egyptians. – 3rd edition. – Moscow, 2008. (in Russian)

The Middle East Conflict: the Status and Proposed Solutions (co-authored with Tkachenko A.A., et al.). – Moscow, 2007. (in Russian)

Africa: The Stepchild of Globalization. – Moscow, 2003. (in Russian)