Natalia Evgenyevna Bazhanova (née Korsakova; in Russian: Наталья Евгеньевна Бажанова (девичья фамилия Корсакова); 4 January 1947 – 7 June 2014) was an influential Russian political scientist, historian, economist, educator, writer, and diplomat.
She gained wider prominence through her works on Korea, China, the United States, and a post-Cold War world order: Between Dead Dogmas and Practical Requirements. External Economic Relations of North Korea (1992); The Most Mysterious War of the XX Century (Korean Conflict 1950–1953) (1997); Chinese Mosaic (2011); America: Yesterday and Today, Volumes 1, 2 (2005); International Relations in the XXI century (2011) etc.
Career
1954–1964 – Secondary and high schools student in Baku and Moscow, graduated with distinction.
1964–1969 – Student of Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO), majoring in Asian studies and world economy, graduated with distinction.
1969–1973 – Senior Researcher, Institute of Oriental Studies, USSR Academy of Sciences.
1974 – Successfully completed her Ph.D. at the Institute of Oriental Studies, USSR Academy of Sciences. The title: "The Role of Soviet-Korean Economic Cooperation in the Development of North Korea’s Economy".
1973–1979 – Press Attaché of the USSR Consulate General in San Francisco (USA).
1979–1981 – Leading Researcher, Institute of Oriental Studies, USSR Academy of Sciences.
1981–1985 – Press Attaché of the USSR Embassy in Beijing (China).
1985–1993 – Leading Researcher, Institute of Oriental Studies, USSR/Russian Academy of Sciences.
1993–2014 – Consultant of the Center of Asian-Pacific Studies, The Diplomatic Academy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.
2003 – Received her doctorate in Pusan, South Korea. The title: "The Economic System of North Korea (Sources, Evolution, Main Characteristics, Structure, Methods of Management, Weak Points, Prospects of Reforms)".
Foreign languages: Korean, English, French, Chinese.
Family
Parents. Father: Evgeny Pavlovich Korsakov (1917–1990), sea captain, Chief Inspector of the USSR State Committee on Labor and Wages. Mother: Nina Antonovna Korsakova (née Klenovskya) (1921–2005), physician, Therapy Department Head, Botkin Hospital, Moscow.
Husband: Evgeny Petrovich Bazhanov (b. 1946), President of the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, political scientist, historian, educator, writer, and diplomat.
Academic activities
Natalia Bazhanova delivered more than 200 lectures at over 60 universities, colleges and research centers in 22 countries, including Harvard, Columbia, Stanford, and George Washington Universities, University of California, RAND, Cambridge, Oxford, Beijing, Tokyo, Seoul National, Australian National Universities, made over 100 presentations at multinational conferences and gave more than 400 interviews to TV, radio, newspapers, and magazines in 30 countries.
She was the academic advisor of 28 Ph.D. candidates, including President of South Korea Kim Dae-jung, Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Foreign Minister of Kyrgyzstan Alikbek Jekshenkulov, Ambassadors to Russia of Yemen, United Arab Emirates, and Palestine, and many prominent Russian politicians, educators, and diplomats.
Dr. Bazhanova is the author of 31 books, more than 30 book chapters and parts and over 420 articles on Chinese, Korean, Japanese, ASEAN, Asia-Pacific, U.S., European, Middle Eastern affairs, foreign policies and domestic issues of Russia, CIS countries (published in Russia, U.S., ROK, PRC, Taiwan, Japan, Australia, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Germany, Britain, Singapore, Thailand, Israel, Egypt, Spain, Italy, Turkey, Austria, Iran, Switzerland, Yugoslavia, Syria). She edited 43 books and other publications, was a member of editorial boards of several magazines, as well as a columnist of a number of South Korean and Taiwanese newspapers.