Commonwealth Club Event: "Autocrats vs. Democrats"

Join the Commonwealth Club of California on Nov. 18, 2025 to hear Michael McFaul discuss his new book, Autocrats vs Democrats: China, Russia, America and The New Global Disorder

HOW TO WATCH:
This event is $10 for online tickets, and you must register at the link below, at which point you'll be emailed a link to the online event - https://commonwealthclub.my.salesforce-sites.com/ticket/#/instances/a0FVb000007H5osMAC

EVENT DESCRIPTION:
The international order in which most of us grew up is over, and a new cold war is setting in. That’s the growing consensus of people adjusting to the aggressive rise of China, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the reelection of President Donald Trump amid the growth of right-wing populist movements around the world. Michael McFaul says America’s future depends on how successfully it deals with this new global order.

McFaul, a former U.S. ambassador to Russia and an international affairs analyst for NBC News, says new thinking is required. The new cold war isn’t the same as the old U.S.–Soviet Cold War. He argues in his new book, Autocrats vs. Democrats: China, Russia, America, and the New Global Disorder, that we should not underestimate the disruptive ambitions of Russia, nor should we overestimate China’s capabilities, and that the shift here at home toward isolationism and autocracy weaken America’s position in the world.

Join us to hear McFaul draw from historical analysis and a forward-looking perspective to craft a new grand strategy for the United States in the challenging new age of global disorder.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER & MODERATOR:

• Michael McFaul is a former U.S. Ambassador to the Russian Federation and Professor in International Studies in the Department of Political Science at Stanford University, where he is also Director of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. He's the author of over twenty previous books, including From Cold War to Hot Peace: An American Ambassador in Putin's Russia (2018).
• Gloria Duffy, the moderator, is a former U.S. Department of Defense official responsible for negotiating the dismantlement of WMDs in the former Soviet Union. She is currently the Co-president and Co-CEO of the Commonwealth Club World Affairs of California.