Foreign Minister Anita Orbán has selected foreign policy expert Botond Feledy to lead the Hungarian Institute of International Affairs, Hungary’s state-backed foreign policy research institute. Feledy accepted the position, saying his two decades of professional experience had prepared him for the role.
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The appointment was announced on Monday, 3 August. The Hungarian Institute of International Affairs – which is Magyar Külügyi Intézet in Hungarian – will also return from the Prime Minister’s Office to the supervision of the Foreign Ministry.
In a statement announcing the decision, Orbán said the institute would once again play a central role in the professional preparation of Hungarian foreign policy decisions. Hungarian Institute of International Affairs to receive renewed strategic role
According to the foreign minister, the institution’s work will focus on providing decision-makers with independent, forward-looking research, analysis and forecasts.
Orbán said international summits and high-level diplomatic negotiations were only the visible elements of foreign policy. Behind them, she added, extensive preparatory work was required to identify Hungary’s national interests, understand major shifts in global politics and assess how international developments could affect the country’s security, economy and room for manoeuvre.
Hungarian Institute of International Affairs: strategic and analytical thinking
The Hungarian Institute of International Affairs is therefore expected to strengthen strategic and analytical thinking within Hungary’s foreign policy apparatus. The ministry also wants the organisation to contribute to public discussion about international affairs rather than operate solely as a closed government research centre.
Feledy expressed a similar ambition in a Facebook post confirming that he had accepted the minister’s invitation.
“If the homeland calls, one cannot say no – this is the first time I have truly understood what that sentence means,” he wrote. Feledy described the role as both a major opportunity and an honour, noting that the institute’s researchers would support Hungary’s entire foreign affairs apparatus. He added that its responsibilities would range from training a new generation of experts to making foreign policy more accessible to society.
“We will certainly not be building only an ivory tower,” he wrote.
Who is Botond Feledy?
Feledy has worked in foreign policy journalism, analysis, education and talent development for approximately 20 years. He studied at Sciences Po Bordeaux, Paris-Panthéon-Assas University, the Free University of Berlin and Budapest’s Eötvös Loránd University. His professional work has focused primarily on Euro-Atlantic security policy, information warfare and cybersecurity.
He previously headed the Brussels-based European Leadership Programme and served as managing director of Red Snow Consulting. He has taught international relations at Eötvös Loránd University and Pázmány Péter Catholic University in Budapest, as well as at Sciences Po’s campus in Dijon.
Until 2017, Feledy served as director of the Saint Ignatius Jesuit College of Advanced Studies in Budapest. He has also been involved in several Hungarian organisations and initiatives working in higher education and talent development.
In 2007, he co-founded Kitekinto.hu, one of Hungary’s first news sites dedicated specifically to international and foreign policy affairs. Between 2011 and 2012, he headed the foreign affairs desk of Hungary’s state news agency, MTI. More recently, he worked as a foreign policy commentator, podcast host and author of the HetiFeledy international affairs newsletter published by Partizán for four years.
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Gladden Pappin leaves institute
Feledy succeeds American political theorist Gladden Pappin, whose resignation was accepted by Orbán on Friday, 31 July. The foreign minister thanked Pappin for his committed work and his efforts to support the development of the institute. Pappin had led the organisation while it operated under the Prime Minister’s Office.
The leadership change coincides with a wider institutional reorganisation following the formation of the Tisza government. Under the new structure, the Hungarian Institute of International Affairs will again operate under the Foreign Ministry, with its principal task being to provide research-based support for foreign policy decisions.
Feledy’s appointment signals an effort to combine government-oriented strategic analysis with education and broader public engagement. The next major indication of the institute’s direction will be its future research programme and the extent to which its work becomes visible in Hungary’s foreign policy decision-making.
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