Leonid Alexandrovich Sedov

L.A. Sedov [Л.А. Седов] (4 Dec 1934, Moscow-15 Feb 2018, Moscow) was a Soviet and Russian sociologist and orientalist.

After studying translation at Moscow Maurice Thorez Foreign Languages Institute (институт иностранных языков имени Мориса Тореза) and at the USSR Institute of Oriental Studies (Института востоковедения АН СССР), Sedov published in 1967 (Moscow, Na'uka, Akademii︠a︡ Nauk SSSR, Institut Narodov Azii), he published the reference study Ангкорская империя, Социально-экономический и государственный строй Камбоджи в IX-XIV вв (The Angkorean Empire: Social, Economic and State Building in Cambodia from the 9th to the 14th centuries). This essay, inspired by Marxist methodology and developing remarkable historic insights, has been quoted by scholars worldwide.

Specializing in the study of Eastern states formation, L.A. contributed many articles to the Encyclopaedia of USSR (Советская энциклопедия) and published several studies, including Типы ранних классовых государств на Юго-Востоке Азия (Types of early-class states in Southeast Asia, with M. Kozlova and V. Tiurin, 1968) and 'La société angkorienne et le probleme du mode de production asiatique' (CERM, Paris, 1969).

Later on, L.A. Sedov specialized in sociological and political studies on post-Soviet Russia, especially as a leading associate of the Yurii Levada Analytical Center.