Autocrats vs. Democrats
China, Russia, America, and the New Global Disorder
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- $299.00
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- $299.00
Descripción editorial
"A history, an analysis, and a set of prescriptions for the greatest geopolitical challenge of our time: the threat to the democratic world posed by China and Russia." —Anne Applebaum, author of Autocracy, Inc.
"A monumental account of contemporary geopolitics"—Francis Fukuyama, author of Liberalism and Its Discontents
From New York Times bestselling author and former ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul comes a bold, clear-eyed look at how the autocracies of China and Russia are challenging the current liberal international order, and how America’s future depends on successfully confronting this threat. The rise of China, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the reelection of President Donald Trump have reinforced a gloomy yet growing consensus: the old global order has ended, and a new Cold War has begun. And yet, many of the perils we face today are distinctly different from those we encountered from the Soviet Union. The alliance between the autocracies of China and Russia, China’s economic might, the rise of the far right in the United States and Europe, and the disturbing isolationist foreign policy shifts of the Trump administration—taken together represent new challenges for the democratic world. They are threats with no precedent in the past century.
In this sweeping account of great power competition between the United States, China, and Russia over the past three centuries, Michael McFaul—former ambassador to Russia and international affairs analyst for NBC News—argues persuasively that today’s challenges require fresh thinking, not constrained by distant memories of the Cold War or the nationalist dreams of MAGA. One of the preeminent thinkers on American foreign policy for decades, McFaul combines in-depth historical analysis with a forward-looking perspective, crafting a new American grand strategy for this age of global disorder. Acknowledging how Xi’s China, Putin’s Russia, and Trump’s America are upending the current international system, Autocrats vs. Democrats makes the case against America’s retreat from the world, detailing why:
Russia’s disruptive ambitions should not be underestimated.China’s capabilities should not be overestimated.Trump’s shift toward isolationism and autocracy will weaken America’s place in the world.
At once a clarion call for American diplomacy and a forceful rebuttal of the Trump administration’s policies, Autocrats vs. Democrats provides a nuanced assessment of the China and Russia threats, as well as a bold vision for renewing America’s leadership on the world stage.
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A democratic America must carefully confront malignant autocrats according to this wonkish survey of international relations. McFaul (From Cold War to Hot Peace), former U.S. ambassador to Russia, sees the world as caught in a standoff between a fraying, U.S.-led liberal democratic global order and its two great antagonists, autocrat-helmed China and Russia. But the greatest threat to America, McFaul contends, is President Trump, himself a would-be autocrat, who has acted in myriad ways to destabilize the global order abroad while undermining democracy at home. McFaul's portraits of Russia and China are canny and measured: he thinks neither poses an existential threat to the U.S., and suggests that they can be contained by American military upgrades, cautious diplomacy, and a liberal internationalism that's engaged, muscular, and embedded in multilateral institutions. For America's part, McFaul sketches out a vast and technocratic policy agenda that covers everything from anti-ship missiles for Taiwan's defense to the folly of university funding cuts and the necessity of making American elections a national holiday. McFaul's ideas, especially when it comes to American domestic policy, sometimes feel tone-deaf. (His suggestion that American companies be encouraged to invest more capital in foreign countries to counter Chinese investment is sure to go over badly with cash-strapped American voters.) Still, this makes an insightful and stimulating case for a calm but resolute stance toward Russia and China.
