Alice mcCARTHY

Alice is a sophomore from London, England, studying at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs with a minor in History and the Practice of Diplomacy. She spent her sophomore summer in Stockholm at the Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA), where she supported comparative research on electoral integrity, institutional repair, and democratic legitimacy. The experience deepened her interest in how governance systems respond to political stress and sustain legitimacy.

Her academic work focuses on the resilience of political institutions and how legitimacy, authority, and inclusion are negotiated across varying regime types. This has included fieldwork on post-conflict state reconstruction and the role of multilateral institutions in balancing national sovereignty with global responsibility. During her freshman summer, she taught English in rural China, gaining first hand insight into centralised governance and its impact on civic identity and education.

At Princeton, Alice serves as Co-President of Policy Punchline, where she is leading a strategic relaunch of the podcast to connect global policy issues with lived experience through interviews and narrative. She is also President of Princeton Women in Business, Head Coach of Special Olympics New Jersey at Princeton, an analyst for Tiger Consulting, and a varsity athlete on the women’s lightweight rowing team.