Irina Kobrinskaya is a graduate of Moscow State University. She received her Ph.D. from the Russian Academy of Sciences' U.S.A.-Canada Institute and began her academic career there. From 1988-1992 she worked for the Institute of Political Studies of the Polish Academy in Warsaw. Shortly after her return to Moscow she joined the Moscow Carnegie Center, where she coordinated the program "Russia and Its Neighbors." In 1998, Kobrinskaya founded the Moscow Center of the New York East-West Institute, which she directed until January 2001. She is the author of four and co-author of nearly 30 monographs. Additionally, she has edited ten books and has written more than 100 articles in periodicals on domestic policy, foreign policy, and international security that have been published in Russia, the United States, Sweden, Poland, Norway, France, Germany, Bulgaria, etc. Dr. Kobrinskaya currently is a leading research fellow in the Institute of World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO) of the Russian Academy of Sciences.