Tamás Meszerics (; born 4 December 1964) is a Hungarian politician and

Member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...

(MEP) from

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

. He was elected as a member of the

Politics Can Be Different Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of status or resources. The branch of social science that studies poli ...

, part of the

European Green Party The European Green Party (EGP), also referred to as European Greens, is a transnational, European political party representing national parties from across Europe who share Green values. The European Greens works closely with the Greens–Eur ...

in 2014. He joined

The Greens–European Free Alliance ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

group.

Biography

Meszerics studied at the Faculty of Arts at Loránd Eötvös University in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

where he earned his

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

in history and English Studies in 1990. After graduation he was a fellow at the Institute for International Studies at the

University of Leeds The University of Leeds is a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1874 as the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1884, it merged with the Leeds School of Medicine (established 1831) and was renamed Y ...

and at the

George Mason University George Mason University (GMU) is a Public university, public research university in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. Located in Northern Virginia near Washington, D.C., the university is named in honor of George Mason, a Founding Father ...

. Beginning with 1992 he became a program coordinator, in 1995 a research assistant at the Political Science Department of the

Central European University Central European University (CEU; , ) is a private research university in Vienna. The university offers graduate and undergraduate programs in the social sciences and humanities, which are accredited in Austria and the United States. The univ ...

. Meszerics earned his

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

degree in contemporary history at his alma mater about Anglo-American foreign policy in 2000. Meszerics was appointed assistant professor in 2002. In 2011 he was a visiting scholar at the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies of the

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

. His fields of interest are theories of democracy, historical and theoretical studies of

intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. It can be described as t ...

bureaucracy Bureaucracy ( ) is a system of organization where laws or regulatory authority are implemented by civil servants or non-elected officials (most of the time). Historically, a bureaucracy was a government administration managed by departments ...

, bureaucratic politics and their theories, the history of modern

Central Europe Central Europe is a geographical region of Europe between Eastern Europe, Eastern, Southern Europe, Southern, Western Europe, Western and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Central Europe is known for its cultural diversity; however, countries in ...

an countries and

behavioral game theory Behavioral game theory seeks to examine how people's strategic decision-making behavior is shaped by social preferences, social utility and other psychological factors. Behavioral game theory analyzes interactive strategic decisions and behavior u ...

Political career

Meszerics joined the

Alliance of Free Democrats The Alliance of Free Democrats – Hungarian Liberal Party (, , SZDSZ ) was a liberal political party in Hungary. The SZDSZ was a member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party and of Liberal International. It drew its su ...

in the wake of the

end of communism in Hungary Communist rule in the People's Republic of Hungary came to an end in 1989 by a peaceful transition to a democratic system. After the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 was suppressed by Soviet forces, Hungary remained a communist country. As the ...

but did not hold any offices. He left the party in 1995 but returned to politics in 2009 when he was a founding member of the new

green party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...

(LMP). Between 2009 and 2010 he was secretary of the party board and was later co-chair of the party's political council. After the successful 2010 general election where the party managed to get parliamentary representation he worked as a foreign policy expert for the parliamentary group. In 2013 he returned to the party board as a member. He held his office until the

2014 European Parliament election The 2014 European Parliament election was held in the European Union (EU) between 22 and 25 May 2014. It was the 8th parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979, and the first in which the European political parties field ...

where he headed the party list. As the party surpassed the threshold of 5%, Meszerics was elected as a

where he automatically joined

group. The group elected him as co-coordinator of foreign policy. He was a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and substitute member of the

Committee on Employment and Social Affairs The Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL) is a Committees of the European Parliament, committee of the European Parliament. It is responsible for issues of employment and social policy, including labour rights, social security, inclusion ...

. On 22 October 2018, Tamás Meszerics announced his decision to leave the LMP party.

Other activities

European Council on Foreign Relations The European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) is a pan-European think tank with offices in seven European capitals. Launched in October 2007, it conducts research on European foreign and security policy and provides a meeting space for decis ...

(ECFR), MemberMembers

. * European Endowment for Democracy (EED), Member of the Board of Governors

Sources

*
CV at the Central European UniversityShort CV at Harvard University

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meszerics, Tamas 1964 births Living people 21st-century Hungarian historians Academic staff of Central European University LMP – Hungary's Green Party politicians LMP – Hungary's Green Party MEPs People from Győr MEPs for Hungary 2014–2019 Eötvös Loránd University alumni