Welcome to the website of the Hungarian Institute of International Affairs!

Four months have passed since the beginning of 2007, when the Hungarian Institute of International Affairs (HIIA) was founded by a decision of the Hungarian government, and began its activities. In accordance with the founder’s expectations, the work of the HIIA is based on the combination of the freedom of research and the practical applicability of research results. During the first few months of its existence, the HIIA focussed primarily on its internal life. Researchers have been employed, the research programme for 2007 has been agreed upon, and necessary decisions have been taken to renew the publishing activities of our predecessors. Although our work may have been less visible during this time, these months were indispensable for carrying out tasks that will have implications for the years to come. In the coming weeks and months, however, we will have to carry out another task. The HIIA is set to leave the László Teleki Foundation’s headquarters, its home of the last 16 years. The excellent new facilities of Bérc Street 13-15, on top of Gellért Hill, will hopefully host HIIA for a long-long time, and attract experts of international affairs, Hungarians and foreign alike, acting as a hub for research and analysis.

As a result of the tireless efforts of my colleagues, we have already successfully applied for a major grant from the International Visegrad Fund, and will, on this basis, start extensive topical research cooperation with our partner institutions in Bratislava, Prague and Warsaw in the following years. The project will also involve experts from third countries. We are looking to discuss the most important foreign policy matters on the agenda of the four Visegrad states, and identify coinciding or divergent interests of our respective governments. Also, in the next months we are planning to undertake an extensive, multi-perspective analysis of the effects of the unsuccessful Iraqi consolidation on the international system, as well as that of the consequences of the approaching independence of Kosovo. In the meantime, we are proud to announce that researchers of the HIIA have made significant contributions to the preparing and drafting of the new foreign relations strategy of the Hungarian government.

The 11 researchers of HIIA cannot cover all the major topics of international relations. It is for this reason, among others, that the HIIA plans to operate an extensive web of research on the basis of contracts, hopefully involving a number of associated external experts. Currently, we are in the first stages of this enterprise, although already today every project of ours links up external scholars with our researchers. In this spirit, we invite experienced researchers for cooperation, while also encouraging young experts to join our research. It is for this reason that we are offering two scholarships, posted on our webpage in Hungarian, for young scholars (recent MAs and Ph.D. candidates) for the Academic Year 2007/8.

It is important to communicate with those interested in foreign policy and the activity of our institute. The internet is an important means for this goal. We hope to operate a living website that presents the HIIA in depth, informs visitors about its programmes, and makes available the full text of our publications (with the exception of our monographs), and also provides information about papers by our experts published elsewhere.

In this spirit, we would like to entreat all those interested to follow our work, and cooperate with the Hungarian Institute of International Affairs.

Pál Dunay