This paper contains an account of A. A. Bolibrukh's results obtained in the new directions of research that arose in the analytic theory of differential equations as a consequence of his sensational counterexample to the Riemann-Hilbert problem. A survey of results of his students in developing topics first considered by Bolibrukh is also presented. The main focus is on the role of the reducibility/irreducibility of systems of linear differential equations and their monodromy representations. A brief synopsis of results on the multidimensional Riemann-Hilbert problem and on isomonodromic deformations of Fuchsian systems is presented, and the main methods in the modern analytic theory of differential equations are sketched.Bibliography: 69 titles.Keywords: regular and Fuchsian systems of linear differential equations, monodromy representations of meromorphic systems of differential equations, Riemann-Hilbert problem, reducible and irreducible monodromy representations and systems of differential equations, isomonodromic deformations.