Balázs Mártonffy, PhD

Balazs Martonffy. PhD is a political scientist currently serving as the Director of the American Studies Research Institute in Budapest and a non-resident fellow at the International Center for Security and Leadership in Colorado. He previously was an assistant professor of security studies at Ludovika – University of Public Service. Balazs lectures at the Hungarian Diplomatic Academy and the European Security and Defence College, has taught at George Washington University and American University, and was a visiting researcher at the U.S. Air Force Academy.

Balazs is the winner of 2020 John McCain Dissertation Award, recognizing exceptional research in transatlantic relations by the Munich Security Conference, and the 2019 William C. Olson Award, recognizing exceptional teaching by American University, School of International Service. His work on international security, great power politics, and alliance cohesion has been published by Routledge and ABC-CLIO, and appeared in The Washington Post’s Monkey Cage, War on the Rocks, The Conversation, International Security Network, Atlantic Community, and in various Hungarian outlets as well.

In his policy career, Balazs was most recently the Deputy Director for Security Policy at the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He previously served as a civilian defense official with the Hungarian Ministry of Defense and as a defense policy intern with NATO’s International Staff in Brussels.

Balazs was an Eliot Scholar at Washington University in St. Louis, receiving an AB in History; an inaugural Sié Fellow at the University of Denver, receiving an MA in International Security; and a Dean’s Scholar and Hungary Initiatives Foundation Scholar at American University, receiving an MPhil and PhD in international relations. He received an undergraduate scholarship to study at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and has attended graduate courses at the Geneva Center for Security Policy, Brookhaven National Laboratory, the Woodrow Wilson Center, and Syracuse University as well.