Hungarian Scholar Visits CRI

Image: evelin-szarka.png
Between July 5 and August 6, 2013, the Cuban Research Institute will host a visiting scholar from Hungary working on Cuban affairs.

Evelin Szarka earned a master's degree in International Relations at the Institute for Social and European Studies, University of West Hungary. She is currently a Ph.D. student in Political Science at the University of Pécs. One of her fields of research for eight years has been Cuba; she has written ten academic publications on the topic so far. Her most recent analysis is about the similarity of reforms and changes in the Hungarian "Goulash Communism"/the Kádár era and those of Cuba after the Special Period.

Presently she is working on a book, Cuba: A Caribbean Island in the Foreign Policy of the USA and the EU between 1992-2013, which will be published in November. This monograph focuses on the policy of the European Union toward Cuba, and the Union presence and the possible ways of interaction in the scenarios of Cuban regime change. The overarching goal of the research is to fill an existing gap in Hungarian and European Union social science: it aims to position the Caribbean state in the globalized world formed by the United States and the European Union. Its well-reasoned argument and findings provide guideposts for future policy toward Cuba at the international level as well, as joint financial and technical assistance programs, humanitarian and training projects can effectively contribute to a peaceful democratic transition considering local characteristics.

Miklos Doleschall, a Hungarian sociologist, will assist Ms. Szarka in her research project.