Vladislav Soloviev. Interview with the Honest Political Scientist. Biography and Interesting Facts

Political scientist and blogger Vladislav Soloviev is known for his political and economic forecasts. His articles are posted by both popular and specialized resources. The leitmotif of Soloviev’s materials is the global reformation of the world economy, politics, and ideology. According to the political scientist, the new geopolitical model implies a gradual sacralization of science and knowledge in general. In simpler words, humanity will be rapidly becoming more and more stupid, as the intellectual development of the majority and universal education will become (according to the plan of the world elites) less and less accessible.

Despite Vladislav Soloviev’s popularity in online publications and projects, not much is known about his personal life, education, and past career. The political scientist rarely gives interviews and does not like to talk about himself. However, Soloviev made an exception for our publication and answered a number of personal questions.

First, let’s clear things up. Why do people call you the Honest Political Scientist? 

This alias was born during my student years. At that time, I had just started writing articles, first in university publications and then in more prestigious ones. At that time, there was no mass Internet yet; everything was published on paper – newspapers and magazines. It was a turbulent time (the second half of the 1990s), and sometimes I wrote about things for which I could be physically eliminated. Nowadays, you’re likely to only get off with a slight scare if you start attacking some businessman in the press. Mores used to be harsher, and the weight of the printed word was higher. That said, I never learned how to lie or write for hire. One professional journalist said he considered such principles a sure sign of a dilettante. And yet, being completely honest with myself and my readers is a matter of principle for me. Therefore – Honest Political Scientist.

You don’t talk much about your personal life. We know you have a family and children. How did you meet your wife? Or is that a question you don’t want to answer?

It’s simple. My wife and I have known each other since I was a student, but we got closer much later. After university, we didn’t see each other for a long time, and then we met at a specific cultural event. It was an evening of avant-garde dance or poetry, something quite radical. There was a lot of that in Moscow at the end of the 1990s. We hung out somewhere until the morning, and then it turned out that my future wife and I had a lot of common tastes in movies, music, and literature. Now these values are of secondary importance, as far as I know of modern youth, but back then they were crucial. A couple of months later, we got married.

You didn’t become a political scientist and publicist right away, did you? You’re an economist by profession. 

That’s right, an economist. I should say that I worked in my specialty for quite a long time and for various companies. Again, it was a time when economists at companies of a new format could be doing anything other than their direct duties. In one firm, I was a negotiator; in another, I did nothing at all, I was listed as an economist, receiving a salary as a sort of vice chairman. I gradually gained experience in what was then called “business”, which in fact was the primary redistribution of funds. And finances were distributed in the most unpredictable way. I worked as a pure economist in more civilized times, in the early and second half of the 2000s. It was a large consulting agency that gradually became more and more solid and influential. In 2010, I was even offered the position of CEO of a branch, but just at that time, I somehow stopped being satisfied with what I was doing in that company. And I was also fed up with working for someone else in general.

So you became a political scientist? Just by listening to your heart?

Something like that. By that time, I had already been investing for some time, so with my family’s quite moderate demands, we had enough income from my assets to maintain the required standard of living. That is why I preferred, as they began to say, freelancing to the position of branch CEO. But I already had experience as a political scientist. As I told you, I used to write when I was a student and later on, but rarely. After leaving my job, I had plenty of time for self-education and practice. Besides, I got a second education by correspondence, specializing in political science, so I am quite a certified political scientist. However, I had little experience in journalism, and my first articles in the mass media were rather crude. Then, gradually, I developed my own style, and the whole thing became much easier.

Are you working on any new projects right now, aside from regular articles?

Among my latest projects is the EN+ (ENglish +) blog. This is an English-language project where I publish my own articles as well as materials by foreign journalists, mostly beginners. The topics are diverse, but mostly global politics and economics.

Since our time is limited, let’s move on to the final question. What do you think about the near future of humanity? What awaits us, and should we hope for the best?

Depends on what you compare it to – that’s about the last part of the question. “The best” is a relative concept. One thing I can say for sure is that this will be an extremely interesting time. We have not yet entered the period of collapse of structures and institutions that have been deliberately built into global politics and economics for half a century or even more. Now all these structures will collapse first and then be rebuilt. The role of China and the global South in the new world will be important, but not as important as many assume. It will be a more fragmented world than it is now, with far less objective reality than we are used to.