“They’re Not Like Us”: Michael McFaul on Autocrats vs. Democrats and the Fight for the Twenty-First Century | Peter Robinson | Hoover Institution

Uncommon Knowledge

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Politics, History, News, News:politics, Science

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🗓️ 2 March 2026

⏱️ 72 minutes

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Summary

Former US ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul returns to Uncommon Knowledge with Peter Robinson to discuss his new book, Autocrats vs. Democrats: China, Russia, America, and the New Global Disorder. McFaul explains why Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, and today’s autocratic leaders fundamentally do not think like we do—and why that misunderstanding has shaped some of America’s most consequential foreign-policy mistakes. Drawing on decades of scholarship and firsthand experience inside the Kremlin, McFaul traces Russia’s post–Cold War slide back into autocracy; challenges the claim that NATO expansion caused the rupture with Moscow; and argues that the true threat to authoritarian regimes is democratic example rather than Western military power. He examines the war in Ukraine, its implications for Taiwan, the limits of transactional diplomacy with ideologues like Putin, and the enduring lessons of Cold War statecraft. He also reflects on his unlikely journey from Butte, Montana, to Spaso House —the Moscow home of the U.S. ambassador to Russia— and why he remains convinced that democracy, however fragile, is still the West’s greatest strategic advantage. Subscribe to Uncommon Knowledge at hoover.org/uk

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0:00.0	From Butte, Montana to Spazzo House, the residents of the Ambassador of the United States to Russia,
0:08.0	Ambassador Michael McFall on Uncommon Knowledge on Peter Robinson.
0:24.6	A native of Montana, Michael McFall, is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution,
0:29.3	a senior fellow at the Freeman Spogley Institute for International Studies,
0:33.1	and a professor of international studies, all here at Stanford.
0:37.3	He served on the National Security Council during the first three years of the Obama administration, and a professor of international studies, all here at Stanford.
0:37.6	He served on the National Security Council during the first three years of the Obama administration,
0:42.7	and then as ambassador to Russia from 2012 to 2014.
0:47.4	Professor McFaul's most recent book, Autocrats versus Democrats,
0:52.0	America, and the new global disorder.
0:57.5	Mike, welcome to Uncommon Knowledge.
1:00.2	Thanks for having me.
1:02.0	From autocrats versus Democrats, while American power has declined in relative terms since its peak in 1990s, the U.S. remains the most powerful country in the world.
1:12.1	It is likely to maintain that position for the foreseeable future, close quote.
1:18.5	We have four time zones.
1:20.1	Russia has 11.
1:21.4	We have a population of 340 million.
1:24.1	China has a population of 1.4 billion.
1:30.3	What have we got that they ain't got? Well, that's a great question, and it's a hard question.
1:33.3	I have three chapters in the book about power, and how you measure power gives you different answers, right?
1:39.3	So if you measure in terms of population and territory, those were the things that mattered most in the 18th and
1:44.8	19th century about power, were not in good shape. But if you measure in terms of education,
	...

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