Sarah Chayes

Sarah Chayes, a senior fellow in the Democracy and Rule of Law program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, combines academic rigor with practical experience in her field of corruption. Having lived in Afghanistan for nearly a decade, first as a reporter, then running a small business in downtown Kandahar, and finally as special adviser to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and the US military, she gathered first-hand experience on the damage and erosion of trust caused by a kleptocratic government. Her research has since expanded to investigating systemic corruption on a global scale, making her one of the most prominent voices in her field.