The Institute of World Economy and International Relations was established in 1956 and is the successor of the Institute of World Economy and World Politics, which existed from 1925 to 1948. Quite quickly after its establishment it gained the reputation of an authoritative and unparalleled in our country center of complex fundamental and applied socio-economic, political and strategic research focused on the analysis of the main trends in world development. Over time, a number of problem-regional research institutes – the Institute for the US and Canadian Studies, the Institute for African Studies, the Institute of the International Labor Movement, etc. – spun off from its structure. However, IMEMO still remains a unique analytical center in terms of the breadth of coverage of the problems studied and the complexity of scientific issues.

Since 1956, the Institute has been headed by prominent scientists and major political figures, academicians: Anushavan A. Arzumanyan, Nikolay N. Inozemtsev, Alexander N. Yakovlev, Evgeniy M. Primakov, Vladlen A. Martynov, Nodari A. Simoniya, Alexander A. Dynkin.

By decree of February 11, 1971, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics awarded IMEMO the Order of the Red Banner of Labor for successes in research on the world economy and international relations and training of highly qualified scientific personnel.

The scientists of the Institute have always seen their main mission as a comprehensive study of real international processes, mechanisms of functioning of market economy and peculiarities of political systems of foreign countries. The Institute has accumulated considerable experience in analyzing the world economy and international relations, and has created a significant background in the study of various countries of the world.

Within the walls of IMEMO, domestic political science and economic theory were developed, and also a prognostic and analytical basis for political decision-making. The Institute's economists and political scientists focus on issues related to globalization trends, new challenges to international security, and qualitative changes in the economic and political system of society.

IMEMO employs more than 284 researchers. Among them: 7 Academicians of the Russian Academy of Sciences – Aleksey Arbatov, Vladimir Baranovskiy, Gennadiy Chufrin, Alexander Dynkin, Natalia Ivanova, Vasily Mikheev, Vitaly Naumkin; 10 Corresponding Members of the Russian Academy of Sciences – Vladimir Avtonomov, Sergey Afontsev, Petr Cherkasov, Rostislav Kapelyushnikov, Ivan Korolev, Irina Semenenko, Feodor Voytolovsky, Sergey Zavriev, Stanislav Zhukov, Irina Zvyagelskaya; 56 Doctors of Science and 163 Candidates of Science.

Many representatives of the modern Russian political elite and expert community, journalists and media business figures have worked at IMEMO at different times.

• IMEMO. Portrait against a Background of Epoch. Moscow: “The Whole World” Publishing House, 2004, 572 p.,
• IMEMO. Essay on the History. Moscow: “The Whole World” Publishing House, 2016, 872 p.,
• and in the publications in the journal «World Economy and International Relations» №№ 4 to 7, 11, 12 in 2002, №№ 1 , 2, 7, 9 in 2003, №№ 2-5, 7-9 in 2004.

Since August 2015, the Institute has been named after Yevgeny Maksimovich Primakov.

Since June 2016, the Institute has been renamed into the Federal State Budgetary Scientific Institution "Primakov National Research Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences".