Damjan Krnjević Mišković
Damjan Krnjević Mišković is a professor at ADA University,Director for Policy Research, Analysis and Publications. His professional fields are International Relations, Contemporary Geopolitics and Grand Strategy.
Summary of Damjan Krnjević Mišković 's lecture is available HERE
What made you apply for the grant?
I believe that Hungary’s strategic decision to engage strategically with the Turkic world in general, and with Azerbaijan and Turkey in particular, is geopolitically and geo-economically advantageous for Hungary. I wanted to have the opportunity to argue in favor of continuing along this course in an influential academic setting in your country, as well as to reacquaint myself with the policymaking and intellectual foundations of this policy—I have not been to Hungary since my time in the Serbian government, which ended about a decade ago, and saw the Ludovika Scholars Program as an excellent opportunity to renew and update my understanding of this thinking, which is not exactly a mainstream position amongst EU member states and the bureaucrats in Brussels.
What do you expect from the program?
I expect to engage academically in a sophisticated way with the Ludovika community, but also to have some interaction with the decisionmaking world. One of the encouraging signs I see here is that, unlike in many other countries, the academic and policymaking worlds talk to each other in Hungary. This tends to be useful for national development, if done properly. I also hope to get a sense of Hungary’s foreign policy direction, its thinking on various issues. In parts of the West, the Hungarian position can oftentimes be misunderstood: in September and December last year, I spend a total of 2 weeks in Brussels and there, as you know, in the bureaucratic circles there, the position of Budapest is often cast in a negative light. There might be ways to correct for this, and, strangely as this sounds, one way could involve going through Azerbaijan—or not “going through” Azerbaijan, exactly, but understanding that there is added value for not just Hungary but for the entire EU in Hungary’s deepening engagement with Azerbaijan, Turkey, and the rest of Eurasia.
What role does this grant play in your professional career?
Well, my students will benefit through my lectures that will invariably incorporate some of the arguments that I will set out in my lecture and workshop. My university and its affiliated think-tank can benefit through partnerships with Ludovika and other Hungarian universities. I would hope that additional numbers of Azerbaijanis will apply to Ludovika and other Hungarian universities—I know several former students that will study in Hungary already in the 2023-2024 academic year. I would assume that my participation in the Ludovika Scholars Program will be evaluated positively whenever I come up for review, which never hurts. I imagine that I will recommend colleagues apply to it in the years ahead, so that’s another benefit. Finally, I would expect to lecture and/or write about Hungarian foreign policy in various professional capacities, and my time here triggered this sort of thinking. So this is certainly a professional benefit as well.