Andras Racz at IEP
Andras Racz, SPES fellow from Hungary, stayed at the IEP from 4 to 16 of January, and he will continue his Berlin research experience in February 2010. So far, Andras had the opportunity to meet experts from various institutions, inter alia from the Federal Foreign Office and Berlin based think-tanks and foundations. Moreover, he participated in an expert workshop on ESDP missions. In February he will carry out further interviews as well as give a lecture at a Masters programme, organized by thhe Centre International de Formation Européenne (CIFE) in Berlin.
During his research trips to St. Petersburg ( 2–4 September, 10–12 December 2009), and Moscow (9–15 November 2009) he participated in two conferences and conducted interviews with numerous experts from universities, research institutes, as well as public institutions in order to supplement his SPES research project on EU-Russia relations in the context of their “Common Neighbourhood”.
Andras graduated from Eötvös Loránd University of Sciences with M.A. in History and M.A. in Political Science in 2004. In 2008, he achieved a PhD in Modern History at the same university. His thesis analyzed the development of the EU military capabilities of 1999–2004, which was consistent with his research interest and fellowships since 2003. From that time he has been involved in foreign and security policy studies at the Teleki László Institute (2003–2006), NATO PfP training – ZMNDU, Hungarian Institute of International Affairs, as well as the Institute of Strategy and Defense Studies of the ZMNDU; and consequently, published numerous papers relating to the security challenge of the Post-Soviet region, military cooperation of Belarus and Russia, changes in and options for Belarus, as well as, more generally, EU foreign policy towards Eastern Europe.