Dr. Sergey M. Plekhanov

Sergey M. Plekhanov is a leading Russian historian and political scientist with a strong background as a public policy consultant.

Born in 1946 in Moscow, Sergey M. Plekhanov graduated in 1968 from the prestigious Moscow Institute of International Relations as a specialist on Third World problems, having studied Afghan and Persian and served as an intern at the Soviet Embassy in Kabul. Upon graduation, he joined the newly established Institute for the Study of the USA and Canada in Moscow and launched a successful career in American studies, rising from a postgraduate student to the Institute's Deputy Director, the position he served in from 1988 to 1992.

Plekhanov has published over 50 books and articles on American politics and society, contemporary Russian affairs, US-Soviet relations and comparative political systems. He has worked at the Soviet Foreign Ministry and traveled widely in the United States, Canada, Europe and China as a participant in numerous international conferences and research projects, including "Mutual Security: A New Approach to US-Soviet Relations" (Brown University-Soviet Academy of Sciences, 1988-89), "The Role of Mutual Perceptions of Goals, Policies and Constraints in East-West Relations" (Max Planck Society, Germany - Soviet Academy of Sciences, 1989-90), "Vitality of Nations" (Luxembourg Institute of European Studies, 1990-92), "Privatization and Management Reform in Russia" (Kent State University - Foundation for Economic Reform of Russia, 1991-93), "Emerging Norms of Justified Intervention" (American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1993).

When Mikhail Gorbachev became the top Soviet leader, Plekhanov joined the circle of intellectuals who set out to help develop new ideas for USSR's foreign and domestic policies. In 1985, Plekhanov went to Geneva as a member of Gorbachev's team of advisers for the ground-breaking summit meeting with Ronald Reagan. He took part in numerous studies designed to reorient Soviet foreign policy away from the Cold War, to demilitarize the Soviet economy, establish a democratic political system and promote radical economic reform in the Soviet Union.

For two stormy years, from the Bush-Gorbachev summit at Malta in December 1989 down to the last days of the Soviet Union, Plekhanov worked as CBS News Moscow consultant on Soviet affairs. He has lectured widely in the United States and Canada, having addressed Council on Foreign Relations, Los Angeles World Affairs Council, California Bar Association, US Friends of Hebrew University, Institutional Investor conferences and numerous college, business and public audiences. On leave in California in 1992-93, Plekhanov was Anderson Fellow at the International and Public Affairs Center at Occidental College in Los Angeles and Visiting Scholar in the Global Peace and Conflict Program at University of California, Irvine. He is now Visiting Professor of Political Science at York University in Toronto, Canada.

While in North America, Plekhanov is involved in international projects aimed at helping Russia develop a durable democratic system and a healthy market economy. He consults Kettering Foundation of Dayton, Ohio, Northeast Ohio Employee Ownership Center at Kent State University, Hubert H. Humphrey Institute on Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota, and John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation of Chicago on Russian affairs. Recently, Sergey Plekhanov worked as a consultant in the production of the award-winning HBO film "Stalin". During the Vancouver summit meeting between President Clinton and Yeltsin, he served as consultant to Canadian Broadcasting Co. and CNN.

DLA Speakers Categories Top Of Page Email