Main Page  >  Departments  >  Department of Economic and Social Geography... Department of Social-Economic Geography of Foreign Countries

Dr. Aleksey S. Naumov

The Department was founded in 1934 by Moscow University professors Nikolay N. Baransky and Ivan A. Vitver as the Chair of Economic Geography of Capitalist Countries at the Faculty of geography and soil sciences.
Since then its name has been changed several times:
• 1948-1959 – Department of Economic Geography of Foreign Countries,
• 1959-1991 – Department of Economic and Political Geography of Capitalist and Developing Countries,
• In 1991 the Department was given its current name.
The Department was headed: in 1934-1954 by Professor Ivan A. Vitver; in 1955-1958 by the Honoured Science Worker, Professor Isaak M. Maiergoyz; in 1959-1999 by Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Distinguished Professor of the Moscow University, Professor Victor V. Volsky, in 1999-2014 by Dr. Alexander S. Fetisov.
Since 2014, Dr. Aleksey S. Naumov is the Head of the Department.

Teaching and research staff:

Professors: Dr. Alexander P. Gorkin (main areas of research and instruction: USA, industrial geography), Dr. Leonid V. Smirnyagin (social geography theory, methods of geographical analysis, political geography, USA).

Associated professors: Dr. Aleksey S. Naumov (agricultural geography, Latin America, high school geography), Dr. Ekaterina V. Romanova (Germany, innovation geography of Europe, migration policy), Dr. Irina S. Tikhotskaya (Japan), Dr. Alexander S. Fetisov (geography of socio-economic development, countries typology, international division of labour).

Senior lecturers: Tatyana A. Atchkassova (geography of high-tech industry and service industry; France), Irina S. Ivanova (social and economic geography of South-East Asia).

Leading researchers: Dr. Vyacheslav M. Sokolky (geography of chemical industry, United Kingdom), Dr. Sergey A. Tarkhov (geography of transport), Dr. Andrey I. Treyvish (theory of social and economic geography), Dr. Nadezhda Yu. Zamyatina (cognitive geography, Canada).

Researchers: Elena E. Demidova (geography of deviant social and economic phenomena, Scandinavian countries), Darya S. Elmanova (regional geography of Belgium), Lyudmila A. Kadilova (social and economic cartography, infographics), Alexander I. Lukyanov (political geography, South Asia), Aleksey V. Novikov (cultural geography, USA), Simon G. Pavluk (urban geography, Africa, Australia), Fedor A. Popov (political geography, geography of secession), Sergey V. Rogachev (spatial analysis, Arab world).

Profile of graduates
Geographers, specialists in economic, social and political geography of foreign countries. The alumni are working at various institutes of the Russian Academy of Science such as Institute of World Economics and International Relations, Institute of Europe, Institute of Latin America, Institute of Geography, Institute of Urban Economics, etc. They are employed at branch ministries, at economic and information departments of public and private companies involved in activities with foreign countries. The alumni are working as experts and researchers in such spheres as territorial analysis of economy, regional policy, social and political processes as well as editors and interpreters.

Main courses\Curriculum:
• Social and Economic Geography of the World outside CIS (Western, Central and Eastern Europe, Asia (outside CIS), North America, Latin America, Africa, Australia);
• Country studies (USA, Canada, Germany, Japan etc.);
• Theoretical and applied methods of economic and geographical research;
• Specialized geoinformatics;
• Human geography and urban studies;
• Geography of industry;
• Geography of agriculture;
• Geography of transport;
• Geography of finance;
• Cultural geography;
• Political geography
• Foreign languages.

Research divisions: Research laboratory of human geography and country studies.
Main accomplished research: a number of research projects on the most important issues of human geography of foreign countries based on civilizational and typological approach were completed. A concept of developmental country studies was proposed. The main approaches and research methods of socio-economic country studies caused by transnationalization, globalization and regionalization were identified. An analysis of experience in territorial organization of national economy based on case studies of Eurasia, North and South America countries was carried out.

Advance research: Geography of socio-economic development of foreign countries.
Academic contacts are established and maintained with Institute of Geography, Institute of Latin America, Institute of the USA and Canada, Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Institute of Africa, Institute of World Economy and International Relations, National Institute of Scientific and Technical Information, and other institutes of Russian Academy of Science, with Institute of Urban Economics, Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia, Moscow State Pedagogical University.
International Relations: academic exchange, academic training, practical training in some countries (the USA, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Japan, Turkey, India, Brazil, and others). Academic contacts with Association of American Geographers, Oxford University (UK), University of Birmingham (UK), University of Hitotsubu (Japan), University of Meiji (Japan), University of Marburg (Germany), University of Yena (Germany), Heidelberg University (Germany), University of Paris-1 (Pantheon-Sorbonna) and University of Paris-10 (Ouest).

Main Publications, 2000-2015 (monographs, textbooks and study guides):

• Social and Economic Geography of Foreign Countries: Textbook. - Moscow. Ed. 1998, 2001, 2003, 2005
• Tikhotskaya Irina S. Social and Economic Geography of Japan. Life Cycle of the Japanese: Textbook. - Moscow. 2003.
• Kuzina Irina M., Naumov Aleksey S. World Agricultural Geography: Textbook. – Moscow. 2004
• Ivanova Irina S. Social and Economic Geography of South-East Asia: Textbook. – Moscow. 2005
• Tarkhov Sergey A. Evolution Morphology of Transportation Routes. – Smolensk. Moscow. 2005
• Smirnyagin Leonid V. Human Geography. Federalizm. Regionalism. – Moscow. 2005
• Evolution Country Studies in the Context of World Development Geography / Issues of Economic and Political Geography of Foreign Countries. Vol.16. Ed. by Alexander P. Gorkin, Andrei I. Treyvish. – Moscow, 2006.
• Zamyatina Nadezhda Yu. and others. Image Simulation of Historical and Cultural Territory: Methodological and Theoretical Approaches. - Moscow. 2008
• Spatial Structure of Economy and Society of Foreign Countries / Issues of Economic and Political Geography of Foreign Countries. Vol.18. Ed.by Alexander S. Fetisov, Irina M. Kuzina, Irina S. Ivanova. – Moscow. Smolensk. 2009
• Treyvish Andrey I. The City, The Region, The Country, The World. Development of Russia as Seen by a Country Researcher. - Moscow. 2009
• Smirnyagin Leonid V. Megaregions as a New Form of Spatial Structure of Society/ Moscow University Bulletin. Geography. – Moscow. №1. 2011
• Popov Fedor A. Geography of Secession in the Modern World. – Moscow. 2012
• Social and Economic Geography: concepts and terms. Dictionary – factbook. Ed. A. Gorkin –
Smolensk. 2013.
• Naumov Aleksey S. and oth. Geography. Enhanced education. Atlas. – Moscow. 2015