Domonkos D. Kovács
Domonkos D. Kovács is a recent graduate of the University of Cambridge, having majored in History and Russian, and will pursue a master’s degree in international relations at the Central European University of Vienna from September.
His primary research interests include Transatlantic and NATO-Russian relations, EU-Russian security relations, European Strategic Autonomy, Russian near abroad policy pertaining to the EU’s Eastern Partnership states, cyber security, disinformation, and election interference, as well as hybrid and asymmetric warfare. He authored and published numerous research papers, op-eds, articles, and policy memos on topics ranging from the withdrawal from Afghanistan, through European Strategic Autonomy and Russian disinformation, to US policy in the current Russo-Ukrainian war.
Domonkos is the Co-Founder and President of the University of Cambridge Society for Geopolitics, which aims to educate the undergraduate student body about geopolitics, grand strategy, and statecraft, by organizing panel discussions, lectures, and workshops. He was named Young European Ambassador for the EU’s Eastern Partnership Program, where he works on the Ukraine and Georgia programs, developing peer-to-peer networks and sharing best practices vis-à-vis civil society building with students from EaP states. He fulfills the position of Director of Publications for European Horizons, a 1,100-strong global student-led think tank, and acts as the Editor in Chief of its peer-reviewed academic journal, The Review of European and Transatlantic Affairs. During his studies, Domonkos worked for the most prominent Hungarian think tanks across the aisle researching and advising on foreign policy.
Domonkos aspires to pursue a career in foreign policy, security, and diplomacy; he aims to contribute to rebuilding the European Security Architecture by working in the ranks of the OSCE. Domonkos strives to aid the process of adopting Europe to a new age in geopolitics. For this, he believes, the EU must substantiate its Acquis Communautaire with conventional deterrence, heal the Transatlantic split whilst vindicating its own strategic autonomy, and construct new tenets of engagement with Russia.
Domonkos D. Kovács
In early June, he arrived in Washington DC with a determination to discover and understand the intricacies of American foreign policy-making – he considers such knowledge to be indispensable for the endeavor of strengthening the transatlantic axis. In accordance, Domonkos works for the German Marshall Fund of the United States, the premier transatlantic-focused think tank, the motto of which reads ‘Strengthening Transatlantic Cooperation‘. In his position, Domonkos is working on improving relations between the think tank and governments, whilst also contributing to the efforts of GMF’s Alliance for Securing Democracy by researching authoritarian influence and malign foreign interference. Domonkos also looks forward to broadening his academic horizons by partaking in George Mason University’s courses and building his professional networks through the guest lectures of The Fund for American Studies, and the activities organized by the Hungary Foundation.
“You must possess a grand – but nonetheless realistic – vision of how you want the world to look like in 50 years, and most importantly, you must conjure a well-defined image of your role in contributing to such a future. However, one must not forget, that such a determination shouldn’t render us tunnel-visioned, and it must not be prescriptive; the designation of your trajectory is in vain without the willingness to change course when the opportunity presents itself.” – Domonkos Kovács