2022 Michael McFaul Headshot

Michael A. McFaul, PhD

  • Director, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies
  • Ken Olivier and Angela Nomellini Professor of International Studies, Department of Political Science
  • Peter and Helen Bing Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution

Encina Hall
616 Jane Stanford Way
Stanford, CA 94305-6055

Biography

Michael McFaul is Director at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, the Ken Olivier and Angela Nomellini Professor of International Studies in the Department of Political Science, and the Peter and Helen Bing Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution. He joined the Stanford faculty in 1995. Dr. McFaul also is as an International Affairs Analyst for NBC News and a columnist for The Washington Post. He served for five years in the Obama administration, first as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Russian and Eurasian Affairs at the National Security Council at the White House (2009-2012), and then as U.S. Ambassador to the Russian Federation (2012-2014).

He has authored several books, most recently the New York Times bestseller From Cold War to Hot Peace: An American Ambassador in Putin’s Russia. Earlier books include Advancing Democracy Abroad: Why We Should, How We Can; Transitions To Democracy: A Comparative Perspective (eds. with Kathryn Stoner); Power and Purpose: American Policy toward Russia after the Cold War (with James Goldgeier); and Russia’s Unfinished Revolution: Political Change from Gorbachev to Putin. He is currently writing a book called Autocrats versus Democrats: Lessons from the Cold War for Competing with China and Russia Today.

He teaches courses on great power relations, democratization, comparative foreign policy decision-making, and revolutions.

Dr. McFaul was born and raised in Montana. He received his B.A. in International Relations and Slavic Languages and his M.A. in Soviet and East European Studies from Stanford University in 1986. As a Rhodes Scholar, he completed his D. Phil. In International Relations at Oxford University in 1991. His DPhil thesis was Southern African Liberation and Great Power Intervention: Towards a Theory of Revolution in an International Context.

publications

Books
February 2004

Between Dictatorship and Democracy: Russian Post-Communist Political Reform

Author(s)
cover link Between Dictatorship and Democracy: Russian Post-Communist Political Reform
Books
December 2003

Yeltsin's Russia

Author(s)
cover link Yeltsin's Russia
Books
December 2003

Popular Choice and Managed Democracy: The Russian Elections of 1999 and 2000

Author(s)
cover link Popular Choice and Managed Democracy: The Russian Elections of 1999 and 2000

Current research

In The News

Crew onboard a 'Terminator' tank support fighting vehicle during a Victory Day military parade in Red Square marking the 75th anniversary of the victory in World War II, on June 24, 2020 in Moscow, Russia.
News

Understanding Prigozhin’s Mutiny and What Is — and Isn’t — Happening in Russia

Scholars at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies offer insight on what Yevgeny Prigozhin’s mutiny may signal about Russia, Putin’s power, and the war in Ukraine.
cover link Understanding Prigozhin’s Mutiny and What Is — and Isn’t — Happening in Russia
U.S. Congressman Ro Khanna [center] onstage with Amy Zegart [left] and Michael McFaul [right].
News

Congressman Ro Khanna Addresses Intersection of America's Economy and U.S.-China Geopolitical Challenges

The congressman joined Michael McFaul and Amy Zegart for a discussion co-sponsored by the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and the Hoover Institution on American economic resiliency in the face of U.S. competition with China.
cover link Congressman Ro Khanna Addresses Intersection of America's Economy and U.S.-China Geopolitical Challenges
President Sauli Niinistö of Finland participates in a panel of Finnish and Stanford scholars at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies.
News

President Sauli Niinistö of Finland Discusses Security Cooperation and Defense with FSI Scholars

As the war in Ukraine continues to reshape security needs in Europe and globally, scholars from the Freeman Spogli Institute agree that Finland can play a unique leadership role in defense and cybersecurity alliances.
cover link President Sauli Niinistö of Finland Discusses Security Cooperation and Defense with FSI Scholars