Michael McFaul

U.S. Ambassador to the Russian Federation (2012-2014), Stanford Professor and Hoover Institution Senior Fellow, Washington Post Columnist, and NBC News Analyst

“Great Power Competition in the 21st Century: Lessons from the Cold War for Dealing with China and Russia Today”

Michael McFaul, Ph.D., is a professor of political science and a Hoover Fellow at Stanford University and director and senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. McFaul served as the U.S. Ambassador to the Russian Federation from January 2012 to February 2014. Before becoming the ambassador, he served for three years as the special assistant to the president and senior director for Russia and Eurasian Affairs at the National Security Council. 

McFaul has authored and co-edited several monographs including, Advancing Democracy Abroad: Why We Should and How We Can (2009); Democracy and Authoritarianism in the Postcommunist World (2009); and Revolution in Orange: The Origins of Ukraine's Democratic Breakthrough (2006), to name a few. His New York Times best-selling book, From Cold War to Hot Peace: An American Ambassador in Putin’s Russia (2018), presents an inside account of U.S.-Russia relations.