JUDr. Lívia Benko, M.A.

AIES Research Fellow

Dr. Livia Benko has been a Research Fellow at the AIES since 2015. She obtained her Doctorate in Criminal Law at the Paneuropean University in Slovakia and completed her Master’s Degree in European Studies in Austria. Given her Slovak and Hungarian background Dr. Benko currently focuses her research areas on the Visegrad countries, with an emphasis on the issues of the Rule of Law and democracy developments, but is also interested in the broader matters of regional stability in Central Europe. Throughout the years Dr. Benko touched upon several different interest areas. She dealt with the topics related to migration in 2015 but has also  briefly written on subjects of the war in Ukraine and participated in an interview for the BBC on Austria's attitude towards Russian aggression in Ukraine. 

In the recent years Dr. Benko oriented her focus on Austria's participation in the Three Seas Initiative in regards to which she conducted numerous publication activities and attended various panel discussions. She has been working on  the Central European Defense Cooperation (CEDC) format issues as well, organizing AIES workshops on this topic.

Her most recent publications include, an article on The rapid reactions of Central European countries to the war in Ukraine; as well as a short study paper on Austria: The bridge-building approach to the Three Seas Initiative-avenues for improvement followed by an article titled Austria’s Bridge-building & the Three Seas Initiative published for the Online Journal of International Relations-The Horizons.

Dr. Benko's further written work includes the publication on Russia´s war of aggression against Ukraine: How will Energy dependence affect the regional stability of Central Europe as well as an interview for the online magazine Responsible Statecraft: What’s next after the Assassination Attempt in Slovakia.

 Dr. Livia Benko conducts research and analysis, publishing activities, attends round table discussions, conferences but also works on several National and European projects on behalf of the AIES.