Steven Feldstein is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in the democracy, conflict, and governance program where he focuses on issues of technology and democracy, human rights, and U.S. foreign policy. Previously, he was the holder of the Frank and Bethine Church Chair of Public Affairs and an associate professor at Boise State University. He served as a deputy assistant secretary for democracy, human rights, and labor in the U.S. Department of State as an appointee under President Obama. In that role, he had responsibility for Africa policy, international labor affairs, and international religious freedom. Prior to that position, he served for three years as the director of policy at the U.S. Agency for International Development. He previously worked as counsel on the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations under Chairmen Joseph Biden and John Kerry. Feldstein’s articles and essays have been published widely and he is the author of The Rise of Digital Repression: How Technology is Reshaping Power, Politics, and Resistance (Oxford University Press, 2021). He served as a PiAf Fellow in Rwanda for the International Rescue Committee from 2000-01. He is a graduate of Princeton University and Berkeley Law and lives in Washington DC with his wife, Elizabeth Gutting, and two children.
Our History
In 1999, a group of Princeton alumni, faculty, and staff launched Princeton in Africa as an independent affiliate of Princeton University inspired by the University’s informal motto, “Princeton in the Nation’s Service and in the Service of All Nations.” In 2010, the program opened up to include graduates of any US accredited university in order to meet the growing demand from host organizations and allow more young professionals access to the unique opportunities afforded by PiAf. During the past 20 years, we have placed over 600 Fellows with more than 100 organizations in 36 countries, while developing more strategic partnerships across Africa and creating more opportunities for our alumni community to engage with the continent and with one another.