Autocrats vs. Democrats: China, Russia, America and the New Global Disorder

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. (Oct.)