Meet, Andrew Feinstein
Andrew Feinstein is the author of the critically-acclaimed “The Shadow World: Inside the Global Arms Trade” which reveals the corruption and malfeasance at the heart of the global arms business, both formal and illicit. The tenth edition of the book across a number of languages is currently being prepared for publication. “The Shadow World” was short-listed for the Alan Paton Prize for Non-fiction.
The book was the first account of the global arms trade written since the late 1970s due to the difficulties of investigating this notoriously secretive business. The Washington Post described the book as “the most complete account of the trade ever written”, while the Independent praised its combination of “amazing storytelling … with a level of detail that may well be unique.”
A documentary feature film of the book premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York in April 2016, and was awarded Best Documentary Feature at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, the Valladolid International Film Festival and the Belgian Ensor Award.
Andrew was an ANC Member of Parliament in South Africa for over seven years where he served under Nelson Mandela. He served on the Finance and Public Accounts Committees and as Deputy Chair of the country’s Audit Commission. He also served as Economic Advisor to Gauteng Premier, Tokyo Sexwale.
He resigned in 2001 in protest at the ANC’s refusal to countenance an independent and comprehensive enquiry into a multi-billion dollar arms deal which was tainted by allegations of high level corruption. His first book, the best-selling “After the Party: Corruption, the ANC and South Africa’s Uncertain Future” was published in 2007 and focused on this deal and its impact on South Africa’s young democracy.
Andrew is currently Executive Director of Shadow World Investigations (formerly Corruption Watch UK) - an NGO that details and exposes the impact of bribery and corruption on democracy, governance and development, predominantly but not exclusively, in the global arms trade – and an investigative writer, broadcaster, campaigner and speaker.
Andrew was named amongst the 100 most influential people in the world working in armed violence reduction. Along with two colleagues, he was voted South Africa’s anti-corruption hero of 2014. In early 2022 Andrew was the recipient of the Gavin McFadyen Award, along with Justin Schlosberg with whom he started Truth Defence.
He serves on the Advisory Boards of The Platform to Protect Whistleblowers in Africa (PPLAAF), an NGO created in March 2017 by lawyers, investigative journalists and activists to provide the full spectrum of needs catered specifically to whistleblowers; DeClassified UK, an online publication providing critical insight into British foreign policy, defence and intelligence activities; and Lighthouse Reports, a Dutch-based NGO promoting investigative journalism. He is as an Associate with Global Partners Governance, a non-profit that supports politicians, ministers, and civil servants to strengthen their institutions, across 40 countries, and helps to manage change in some of the world’s most complex and sensitive political environments.
Andrew was an Open Society Institute Fellow in 2010/11. He appears regularly in a range of print and broadcast media. These include, most often, the BBC, Al Jazeera, CNN, Sky, NPR, the Guardian, the New York Times, Die Zeit and the Daily Maverick. He co-authored the lead article in the Sipri Yearbook 2012, a chapter in the Oxford Handbook of Organised Crime 2014, and in 2015 contributed chapters on the arms trade to “Reconstructing Atrocity Prevention”, “Advocacy in Conflict: Critical Perspectives on Transnational Activism” and “Indefensible: The Seven Myths that Sustain the Global Arms Trade”. He was also a contributor to the iBook “The Night Manager: The Insider’s Guide” to accompany the BBC series. He has recently published article on the arms trade in the Brown Journal of World Affairs and the BMJ Paediatrics Journal. He is currently working on a book and film on the arms trade and the Yemen conflict.
Andrew was educated at King’s College Cambridge, the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Cape Town. He has also spent time at the London School of Economics as a participant in that university’s Distinguished Visitors Programme. He has lectured at universities around the world including the New School, Harvard, Princeton, Cambridge, Oxford, the University of Cape Town, the Free University Brussels and Leiden University, Holland.
He is currently working on a new book on South Africa, centred around the corruption trial of former President Jacob Zuma, in which Andrew is a witness; and a book on Yemen and the arms trade as part of a book, film and global accountability project.
