Zoltan Feher | Harvard University (original) (raw)

Papers by Zoltan Feher

The Duck of Minerva, 2022

Joseph Nye, considered by many to be the doyen of American political science and international re... more Joseph Nye, considered by many to be the doyen of American political science and international relations, turned 85 years old on January 19. Always soft-spoken and humble, he has been a larger-than-life figure in American social sciences and in the foreign policy community. While his theories and concepts (from integration theory to complex interdependence to soft power) have influenced generations of scholars and policymakers and become well-known the world over, little is known about what led Nye to study each subject he has spent the past 60 years investigating. What is also often forgotten these days is that the prominent academic Nye spent significant parts of his career in government service, going through the famous revolving door between academia and policy several times over the decades. On this special anniversary, I uncover the intellectual origins and inspirations and the historical-political contexts of several of his works and also discuss his once prominent, but these days rather overlooked policy career. In doing this, I am guided by his own words spoken at various events and appearances and shared with me during my personal interviews with him.

Global Security Review, 2020

In this article, I take stock of the lessons and conclusions I have drawn from the global crisis ... more In this article, I take stock of the lessons and conclusions I have drawn from the global crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic, focusing on the main actors of international politics and the world order. Drawing from international relations theory, I make the somewhat surprising claim that a Realpolitik lens would suggest self-interested cooperation among countries in the age of COVID-19. The countries of the world would fare better at managing the coronavirus pandemic if they were to cooperate— cooperation is in their national interest.

The Fletcher Forum of World Affairs, 2017

President Trump has been attacked again and again on the campaign trail and after being elected o... more President Trump has been attacked again and again on the campaign trail and after being elected on the unorthodox and bizarre nature of his foreign policy proposals. Not only Democrats, but the bulk of the Republican foreign policy establishment also distanced themselves from Trump. In spite of the protestations of mainstream experts and practitioners, Trump’s foreign policy agenda is neither new, nor entirely radical and out of the blue. His proposals have actually been around in the academic and policy worlds for several years and have been advocated by the so-called Neorealists. Well-known scholars like Robert Art, Barry Posen, Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer have called for an end to the liberal interventionist policies of the post-Cold War U.S. administrations and proposed some level of scaling down of the U.S.’s international engagements. In visions of U.S. grand strategy they have called “selective engagement,” “restraint,” and “offshore balancing,” they have advanced policies along the lines of Trump’s international agenda.

Center for Euro-Atlantic Integration and Democracy, Jul 2016

Kül-Világ - a nemzetközi kapcsolatok folyóirata, 2005

Március 17-én 101 éves korában elhunyt George F. Kennan, akit az amerikai hidegháborús külpolitik... more Március 17-én 101 éves korában elhunyt George F. Kennan, akit az amerikai hidegháborús külpolitika atyjaként ismert meg a világ. A szovjet-orosz területre specializálódott diplomatának meghatározó szerep jutott az Egyesült Államok új stratégiájának alakításában a hidegháború hajnalán. Később a külügyi szolgálatból visszavonulva a téma tudományos elemzésének szentelte életét, ám véleményére, tanulmányaira egészen haláláig figyeltek az amerikai külpolitika mindenkori alakítói.

Bard Journal of Social Sciences, Nov 2001

After the fall of communism, many experts and politicians questioned the justifiability of NATO’s... more After the fall of communism, many experts and politicians questioned the justifiability of NATO’s future existence because it had fulfilled many of its former main missions. During the 1990s, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization developed a new system of mission and strategy necessary for its adaptation to the new international security environment. In its new mission, NATO has been functioning as a complex institution of security and defense cooperation and has become an integral part of the newly evolving common European security and defense system. With its new mission and roles defined, NATO has proven itself to be an irreplaceable element of the new European (and world) security architecture.

Politikatudományi Szemle [Hungarian Review of Political Science], Mar 2003

Executive Background Institutions – Part II – The Hungarian Prime Minister's Office 1990-2003 ... more Executive Background Institutions – Part II – The Hungarian Prime Minister's Office 1990-2003

The study examines the Prime Minister’s Office, an institution of central importance in the Hungarian political system, from comparative and analytical aspects. The first part of the study, published in the previous issue, included a general introduction and an international comparative chapter on the main Western models of the background institutions of the head of the executive branch. It examined the German Federal Chancellery, the British Prime Minister’s Office and Cabinet Office, and the American Executive Office of the President and the White House Staff.

The second part of the study, appearing in the present issue, drives the point home by giving a detailed introduction and analysis of the Hungarian Prime Minister’s Office. The author first briefly presents the evolution of this institution from its roots in Hungarian history and from its predecessor office during the years of a declining Communist system. He then gives detailed accounts of the Office’s development and its political roles during the different administrations since 1990: the cabinets of Prime Ministers József Antall, Péter Boross, Gyula Horn, Viktor Orbán and the present PM Péter Medgyessy.
The Office, during the respective cabinets, is examined from a host of various aspects: its leadership, its role in governmental communication, coordination, decision- and policy-making, its effect on political innovation, its influence and place in the public policy architecture as well as its scandals, fiascoes and successes. Through the analysis of the Office from these aspects, the author intends to draw conclusions about the overall efficiency of the Office under the respective cabinets and in the different areas. Finally, it is suggested that the Hungarian Prime Minister’s Office shows many similarities to the Western models not only in its institutional structure and mode of functioning but also in its evolving central nature within the whole political system.

Hungarian Review of Political Science, Dec 2002

The study examines the Prime Minister’s Office, an institution of central importance in the Hunga... more The study examines the Prime Minister’s Office, an institution of central importance in the Hungarian political system, from comparative and analytical aspects. The first part of the study, published in the current issue, includes a general introduction and an international comparative chapter.

The main Western models of the background institution of the head of the executive branch have all evolved into powerful centers of policy-making during the past decades or centuries. The German Chancellor’s office, the Federal Chancellery, has become the main tool for strengthening the power of the Chancellor within the cabinet as well as within the whole political system since 1949. The British Prime Ministers, as a result of gradual centralization in the past two centuries, have turned not only the Prime Minister’s Office but even the Cabinet Office into the PM’s own bureaus of the “core executive”, an all-powerful center of national decision-making and public administration.

Both the German and the British model offices have by the millennium evolved into a kind of executive office, a type of institution whose sample is to be found in the United States. The American President’s Executive Office, including its core, the White House Staff, has itself undergone significant centralization and growth in power and numbers. Its huge size in terms of staff, its direct access to the President and its tremendous influence on policy-making have made the Executive Office a model for governmental centralization in other Western democracies, many of which are experiencing a process of presidentialization according to many analyst today. The Hungarian Prime Minister’s Office shows many similarities to the Western models not only within the institution but also in its evolving central nature within the whole political system. The details of the Hungarian office and its development are coming up in the next issue.

Conference Presentations by Zoltan Feher

“The Changing Face of the Middle East” Conference 2012

In the past decade, Turkey has been going through the most significant transformation since the f... more In the past decade, Turkey has been going through the most significant transformation since the foundation of the Republic, reshaping and restructuring its domestic politics and political system as well as its foreign policy. The Erdoğan government, inspired by Davutoğlu’s Strategic Depth Doctrine, has ended the decades-old Kemalist foreign policy and turned Turkey to face its neighborhood, particularly the Middle East. Ankara has been a staunch supporter of the democratization processes of the Arab Spring from Tunisia to Libya to Egypt to Syria. Providing encouragement and assistance to the newly forming Arab democracies, Turkey also pursues a Neo-Ottoman policy through which it has been expanding its regional and international role. Played right, Turkey, as the only Muslim society in the region with a functioning secular democracy, may serve as an inspiration for the democratic movements of the Arab world and can eventually emerge from these tumultuous times as the leading power of the region.

Drafts by Zoltan Feher

Talks by Zoltan Feher

„Az elmúlt években én többször bíráltam a magyar külpolitikában általában – s konkrétan Amerika i... more „Az elmúlt években én többször bíráltam a magyar külpolitikában általában – s konkrétan Amerika irányában is – beállt irányváltozást. [...] Washingtonban 2007-2008-ban értetlenül álltak az igen gyakori orosz-magyar magas rangú találkozók előtt. [...] Amerika és Európa együttműködésénél fontosabb nemzetközi összefogás nem létezik. A transzatlanti együttműködés és ezen belül különösen a NATO tartja fenn évtizedek óta a biztonságot. Magyarországnak ebben a szövetségben kell pozitív szerepet játszania.”

Koraősz óta naponta jönnek kampányhírek az Egyesült Államok novemberi elnökválasztásának várható ... more Koraősz óta naponta jönnek kampányhírek az Egyesült Államok novemberi elnökválasztásának várható esélyeiről, ezért nagyon nehéz lehet az ottélőnek is jósolni, milyen esélyei vannak az elnöki posztra Hillary Clintonnak és Donald Trumpnak?