Experts

Evan A. Feigenbaum

Fast Facts

  • Vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
  • Former deputy assistant secretary of state for South Asia (2007–2009)
  • Former deputy assistant secretary of state for Central Asia (2006–2007)
  • Expertise on China, South Asia, Central Asia, East Asia, nuclear nonproliferation

Areas Of Expertise

  • Foreign Affairs
  • American Defense and Security
  • Asia
  • Trade

Evan A. Feigenbaum, practitioner senior fellow, is vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where he oversees Carnegie's research in Washington, Beijing, and New Delhi on a dynamic region encompassing both East Asia and South Asia. Initially an academic with a PhD in Chinese politics from Stanford University, Feigenbaum’s career has spanned government service, think tanks, the private sector, and three major regions of Asia.

From 2001 to 2009, he served at the U.S. State Department as deputy assistant secretary of state for South Asia (2007–2009), deputy assistant secretary of state for Central Asia (2006–2007), member of the policy planning staff with principal responsibility for East Asia and the Pacific (2001–2006), and an adviser on China to Deputy Secretary of State Robert B. Zoellick, with whom he worked closely in the development of the U.S.-China senior dialogue.

Following government service, Feigenbaum worked in the private and nonprofit sectors: He was vice chairman of the Paulson Institute at the University of Chicago and the co-founder of MacroPolo, its digital venture on the Chinese economy; head of the Asia practice at the markets consultancy Eurasia Group, a global political risk consulting firm; and senior fellow for East, Central, and South Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations. Before government service, he worked at Harvard University (1997–2001) as lecturer on government in the faculty of arts and sciences and as executive director of the Asia-Pacific Security Initiative and program chair of the Chinese Security Studies Program in the John F. Kennedy School of Government. He taught at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School (1994–1995) as lecturer of national security affairs and was a consultant on China to the RAND Corporation (1993–1994).

He is the author of three books and monographs, including The United States in the New Asia (CFR, 2009, co-author) and China’s Techno-Warriors: National Security and Strategic Competition from the Nuclear to the Information Age (Stanford University Press, 2003), which was selected by Foreign Affairs as a best book of 2003 on the Asia-Pacific, as well as numerous articles and essays.

Evan A. Feigenbaum News Feed

What is China’s role in the vast technology space and how does it affect U.S.-China relations? University of Virginia Miller Center Practitioner Senior Fellow Evan Feigenbaum discusses Aynne Kokas’s new book, 'Trafficking Data: How China Is Winning the Battle for Digital Sovereignty.'
Evan Feigenbaum Miller Center Presents
Evan Feigenbaum, practitioner senior fellow at the University of Virginia's Miller Center, writes that "with Russian forces on the retreat in Ukraine, all eyes will be on whether Xi leans further into Beijing’s strategic partnership with Moscow and throws Putin new diplomatic guarantees and economic lifelines."
Evan Feigenbaum Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
The University of Virginia's Miller Center Practitioner Senior Fellow Evan Feigenbaum writes that "two Asian democracies, India and Korea, are carving out distinctive paths on data policy, not just following Western or Chinese models."
Evan Feigenbaum Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
This week on the Sinica Podcast, Kaiser chats with Evan Feigenbaum, vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, former vice-chairman of the Paulson Institute, and (during the second George W. Bush administration), Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs under Condoleezza Rice. Evan offers a very compelling analysis of the difficult position that Beijing now finds itself in after Putin’s invasion of Ukraine — caught on the horns of a dilemma and unable to resolve conflicting commitments to, on the one hand, territorial sovereignty and, on the other, opposition to American unipolar hegemony.
Evan Feigenbaum Sinica Podcast
Beijing tries to strike an impossible balance with Russia, the United States, and the concept of "noninterference."
Evan A. Feigenbaum Carnegie Endowment
The pandemic, structural changes, and geopolitical competition have all led to an acute supply chain crisis. Taiwan stands to benefit, but it needs policy changes and technology investments first.
Evan Feigenbaum Carnegie Endowment for International Peace