Democracy

Nicolas Bouchet is a senior visiting fellow with GMF’s European Resilience program, focusing on efforts to support democracy and civil society, including most recently democratic exiles. He also works closely with GMFs’ ReThink.CEE Fellows. He conducts research on EU and US democracy promotion, with a particular focus on Russia and Eurasia (especially the countries of the EU’s Eastern Partnership). His research interests also include US foreign policy, democratization, and civil society. He has authored numerous policy papers, reports, and articles on these topics.

Kristina Kausch is deputy managing director of GMF’s South and Wider Europe program, dividing her time between Madrid and Brussels. An established voice on European foreign affairs and Europe’s relations with its neighborhood, she conducts research on a broad interdisciplinary portfolio that includes international security, connectivity, the geopolitics of technology, and global power shifts.

Prior to joining GMF, Kausch held positions with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; FRIDE, a Spanish think tank; the Bertelsmann Stiftung; and GIZ, the German development cooperation agency. She has contributed to a wide range of media outlets including The New York Times, the Financial Times, The Guardian, Politico, El País, RTVE, Defense One, Deutsche Welle, ARD, Der Tagesspiegel, and Süddeutsche Zeitung. 

Daniel Hegedüs is a senior visiting fellow with GMF and deputy director of the Institute for European Politics (IEP) in Berlin.

His research focuses on democratic and rule-of-law backsliding within the EU, the intersection of autocratization and foreign policy, and the European and foreign policies of the Visegrad countries.

Hegedüs previously served as GMF’s regional director for Central Europe and held variousresearch and lecturing positions at institutions including the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP), the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), Freedom House, the Institute for Eastern European Studies at the Free University of Berlin, Humboldt University of Berlin, and Eötvös Loránd University.

Hegedüs studied political science, history, and European law, is the author of more than 80 academic and policy papers, and is a frequent contributor to international media.

Muddassar Ahmed is a visiting fellow with GMF’s Transatlantic Leadership Initiatives with a focus on advancing inclusive leadership. He is managing partner at Unitas Communications Ltd, a British strategic communications consultancy, where he has led on projects for the United Nations, Amnesty International, the NFL, the Arab League, the U.S. State Department, and Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), among many others.