Prof. Alexander Nikitin is a professor in the Political Theory Department at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO), under the Russian Foreign Ministry, and Principal Research Fellow at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO) of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He also serves as a member of the Russian Academy of Military Sciences, a member of the Scientific-Expert Council of the Organization for Collective Security Treaty, and Honorary President of the Russian Political Science Association. Prof. Nikitin was nominated and worked as an official external expert for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (2005-2011). He authored On the Parliamentary Oversight of the State Military Organisation: CIS Model Law (2012), which was adopted by the Interparliamentary Assembly of the Member Nations of the Commonwealth of Independent States. He also co-authored the United Nations draft convention on regulating private military and security companies. Prof. Nikitin is the author of seven books, chief editor of 11 collective volumes, and the author of over 100 academic journal articles and book chapters. His works have been published in Russian, English, French, Korean, Punjabi, Spanish, and German. Prof. Nikitin graduated from the Department of Philosophy of Moscow State University.