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ABOUT THE BOOK

New tech is changing the contours of geopolitical stability—America must act now, or risk losing its global standing.

Technology has always driven political competition. For decades, the US set the rules on using its vast resources to develop cutting edge innovations and keep them from its rivals. But in the digital age, major breakthroughs in everything from AI systems to autonomous drones are coming from private companies, not government labs. Innovation now flows freely, and at times dangerously, and there’s little anyone can do to stop it.

In Bytes and Bullets, Steve Feldstein explains how the latest technology is upending the ways that countries compete, and how they wage war. Through captivating stories and original field research, he shows how America’s influence is being undercut at every turn by China’s rising strength, ambitious regional powers, and private corporations acting beyond state control. As wars in Iran, Ukraine and Gaza show, a new era of global conflict is coming into focus fast and threatening international stability. Feldstein reports a rich and at times alarming account of this pivotal moment in history, making an urgent call for the United States to act now, or risk losing its international standing forever.

Reviews

“Feldstein uses stories from Ukraine, the Middle East, Silicon Valley, and Beijing to explain one of the most important shifts in our time: the technologies that are rapidly reshaping warfare, geopolitics and economic competition. An obligatory read for anyone who wants to understand the new forces shaping the future.”

Anne Applebaum, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and staff writer for The Atlantic

"Bytes and Bullets provides a comprehensive overview of the ways in which technological innovation has become the core of strategic competition today, and in particular how China's pursuit of key technologies puts American security at risk. Highly recommended as a guide to the new world of geopolitics."

Francis Fukuyama, Senior Fellow, Stanford University

"Bytes and Bullets is the best book I've read on the intersection between emerging technologies and geopolitical competition in the 21st century. Deploying clear prose and precise arguments, Feldstein jumps effortlessly from the details of drones and rockets in the latest Armenian-Azerbaijan war to sweeping yet digestible assessments of the technological dimensions of great power competition. Feldstein synthesizes analysis of governments and private companies, superpowers and middle powers, and technology and warfare in such a masterful way that Bytes and Bullets should be a must-read for anyone concerned about or trying to shape international politics today."

Mike McFaul, author of Autocrats vs Democrats: China, Russia, America and the New Global Disorder

“Couldn't be more timely. Mixes storytelling and analysis to illuminate the new technological arms race defining global competition.”

Peter Pomerantsev, journalist, bestselling author of How to Win an Information War and Nothing is True and Everything is Possible

“The placid reveries of these last few decades are about to be shattered by a new era of global conflict—one defined by a profusion of technologies even their creators don’t fully understand. Steve Feldstein is among the guides I trust most in this uncertain landscape. He’s the rare analyst with the breadth of knowledge, variety of experience, and clarity of vision to help the rest of us navigate the furious change that awaits.”

Josh Chin, senior Wall Street Journal correspondent, coauthor of Surveillance State

“Feldstein is one of the world's foremost experts on democracy, war, and the digital revolution. This urgent and incisive book weaves together cutting-edge research with a sophisticated understanding of the forces reshaping international politics. At once timely and destined to become an obligatory reference, it is essential reading for anyone seeking to make sense of the new world taking shape around us.”

Moisés Naím, distinguished fellow, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

“Unmissable. Steve is a deep and original thinker on the security consequences of AI, one of the most transformative technologies of our time.”

Verity Harding, Cambridge University director of AI and geopolitics, author of AI Needs You

“Feldstein delivers a panoramic and cogent account of the characters, innovations, and states big and small that are reshaping technology, geopolitics, and international security. The consequences for American power and global relationships are still unfolding—and the choices ahead for policymakers and the public depend on the clear and compelling analysis this book delivers.”

Mariano‑Florentino “Tino” Cuéllar, former California Supreme Court justice, former president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

“Tech is reshaping power in ways we barely understand; Feldstein cuts through the noise to highlight what we need to know. His work on digital repression and global politics challenges conventional thinking and offers new perspectives on critical issues.”

Dr. Seva Gunitsky, University of Toronto professor, author of Aftershocks

"Bytes and Bullets is certainly compelling. Feldstein combines a deft turn of phrase with in-depth research, convincing illustrative vignettes and some of the most effective tables I have seen in a book to tell a very technical story in a manner that reads like a thriller."

Mark Piesing, book review for The Spectator

“We hear a great deal about weaponized interdependence and the technological arms race, but this desperately needed to be corralled together into an accessible book with a coherent central thesis. Feldstein is a seriously talented and clear-headed thinker and he is the right man—given his connections, access and expertise—to write it.”

Dr. Matthew Ford, Swedish Defence University professor, coauthor of Radical War

Events & Speaking

Upcoming events will be announced here in the coming months. For booking inquiries, click here

Politics & Prose Book Launch

Politics & Prose Book Launch

Come join me on Wednesday, September 9 at 7pm at Politics & Prose at The Wharf (610 Water Street SW, Washington, DC) to launch Bytes and Bullets! I’ll be in conversation with the Wall Street Journal’s Vera Bergengruen.

SCSP AI + Expo

SCSP AI + Expo

Steve Feldstein gave an early look into his forthcoming book in an author meet and greet.

May 8, 2026

2023 Grawemeyer Award Lecture

2023 Grawemeyer Award Lecture

Lecture for the 2023 Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving the World Order.

Louisville, Kentucky

April 6, 2023

Yale Law School, Law and Tech Speaker Series

Yale Law School, Law and Tech Speaker Series

Lecture for Yale Law School’s Information Society Project on Geopolitical Rivalry in the Digital Age

November 7, 2023

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About

About

STEVE FELDSTEIN is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace where he focuses on technology, national security, the global context for democracy, and U.S. foreign policy.

His new book, Bytes and Bullets: Global Rivalry, Private Tech, and the New Shape of Modern Warfare, will be published in 2026 by St. Martin’s Press. He is also the author of The Rise of Digital Repression: How Technology is Reshaping Power, Politics, and Resistance (Oxford, 2021), which was the recipient of the 2023 Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order.

He has published research on digital technology’s impact on war, how AI is reshaping repression, the global demand for drones, China’s digital authoritarianism, and new patterns of internet shutdowns. He has released an index tracking the spread of AI surveillance worldwide and published a global inventory measuring the prevalence of commercial spyware.

Feldstein has served in senior foreign policy roles at the U.S. Department of State, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, and the U.S. Agency for International Development. He was also the holder of the Frank and Bethine Church Chair of Public Affairs at Boise State University.

He has appeared on ABC, CNBC, C-SPAN, NPR, and BBC, and his writing has appeared in The Atlantic, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy and Lawfare, among others. He is a graduate of Princeton University and Berkeley Law. He was born and raised in Bloomington, Indiana.

Previous Work

In The Rise of Digital Repression

The world is undergoing a profound set of digital disruptions that are changing the nature of how governments counter dissent and assert control over their countries. While increasing numbers of people rely primarily or exclusively on online platforms, authoritarian regimes have concurrently developed a formidable array of technological capabilities to constrain and repress their citizens.

In The Rise of Digital Repression, Steven Feldstein documents how the emergence of advanced digital tools bring new dimensions to political repression. Presenting new field research from Thailand, the Philippines, and Ethiopia, he investigates the goals, motivations, and drivers of these digital tactics. Feldstein further highlights how governments pursue digital strategies based on a range of factors: ongoing levels of repression, political leadership, state capacity, and technological development. The international community, he argues, is already seeing glimpses of what the frontiers of repression look like. For instance, Chinese authorities have brought together mass surveillance, censorship, DNA collection, and artificial intelligence to enforce their directives in Xinjiang. As many of these trends go global, Feldstein shows how this has major implications for democracies and civil society activists around the world.

A compelling synthesis of how anti-democratic leaders harness powerful technology to advance their political objectives, The Rise of Digital Repression concludes by laying out innovative ideas and strategies for civil society and opposition movements to respond to the digital autocratic wave.

Connect with Steve

 

For marketing and cross-promotional opportunities, please contact:

Gabrielle Gantz: gabrielle.gantz@stmartins.com

Liz Wetzel: [email protected]

For rights inquiries, please contact Aevitas:

Bridget Matzie: bmatzie@aevitascreative.com