Review of “Autocrats vs. Democrats: China, Russia, America, and the New Global Disorder”

Russia losing in Ukraine is not just about justice for one country. It is about whether the world remains governed by rules or by force.

If Putin succeeds, it sends a clear message: borders can be changed by invasion, nuclear threats work, and democracies lack the will to defend their principles. That would weaken deterrence worldwide, embolden other authoritarian powers, and make future wars more likely. Thus, Ukraine’s fate is directly tied to world security.

This is part of the reason why Autocrats vs. Democrats by Michael McFaul is such an important book. Completed and published in 2025, it is as up-to-date of a book as one could hope for, including references to a variety of 2025 events.

Before reading it, I already knew that Russia and China pose serious threats to democracy. But McFaul paints the larger strategic picture of a broader competition between democratic and authoritarian systems and what that means for the future of global stability.

One of the book’s greatest strengths is that it addresses the challenges created by China and Russia together. Russia’s war on Ukraine is not happening in isolation. China has helped cushion the impact of sanctions through expanded trade, provided diplomatic cover in international forums, and echoed narratives that shift blame to the West. If we care about long-term world security, we need to understand both Russia’s and China’s goals and actions.

McFaul structures the book in three parts: past, present, and future. In each section, he examines Russia and China side by side. That comparison is another of the book’s strengths. Understanding those differences matters. The tools needed to counter Russia’s aggression are not the same as those needed to compete with China’s long-term ambitions.

As McFaul points out, Russia and China are both authoritarian, but they are very different kinds of powers. Russia is a declining state with a relatively small economy, serious demographic challenges, and a leadership that relies on repression, nationalism, and military force to maintain influence. Its global impact often comes through coercion and disruption: military aggression, cyber operations, energy leverage, and political interference. China, by contrast, is a rising economic and technological power that has benefited enormously from the existing global order. Rather than seeking to blow up that system, Beijing generally works within it, using trade, investment, supply chains, and international institutions to expand its influence and protect its interests. Where Russia often destabilizes, China competes and maneuvers, trying to tilt the system in its favor without destroying the framework from which it profits.

The book is not just descriptive; it is analytical. McFaul compares autocracies and democracies across economic performance, military capacity, innovation, and alliance networks. Russia’s corruption and poor battlefield logistics in Ukraine are not isolated failures, they reflect deeper weaknesses of autocratic governance, where information is distorted and accountability is limited. At the same time, democracies have their own vulnerabilities, especially when political polarization slows decision-making or weakens resolve.

McFaul also warns against simplistic Cold War analogies. Today’s competition is not a replay of the twentieth century. China is deeply integrated into the global economy in ways the Soviet Union never was, and Russia is far weaker than the USSR at its height. At the same time, he draws practical lessons from what did and did not work during the Cold War. Strategies like strong deterrence combined with engagement, investing in alliances, and supporting democratic institutions around the world proved effective over time. Other approaches—like backing any leader who claimed to oppose communism (including dictators), consistently overestimating the enemy’s strength, and strategic overreach—were costly mistakes.

The third part of the book includes detailed recommendations for American policymakers going forward. For example, McFaul notes that trying to counter China everywhere is neither feasible nor wise; China is too large and too integrated into the global system. Democracies must distinguish between areas that require firm resistance, areas of manageable competition, and areas where cooperation remains possible. The United States should strengthen alliances rather than go it alone, invest at home in democratic institutions and economic competitiveness, deter aggression clearly and consistently, and avoid both isolationism and overreach.

In this last part of the book, McFaul also lays out specific, actionable proposals, from maintaining a credible and modern nuclear deterrent, to structuring U.S. investment abroad more strategically, to attracting talented Chinese and Russian students and scientists to American universities, and even to creating new or reformed international institutions designed to strengthen cooperation among democracies.

I finished the book more convinced than ever that Russia losing in Ukraine is essential for global security. But, despite the seriousness of the challenges, McFaul is ultimately cautiously optimistic about democracy’s long-term prospects. The most prosperous and innovative countries in the world are democracies. Nine of the ten richest countries are democratic; the exception is China. Authoritarian regimes often mimic democratic institutions because democratic legitimacy still carries global appeal. There are no mass movements demanding more dictatorship. More generally, democracies have strengths that autocracies struggle to replicate, especially over the long term. Thus, supporting democratic Ukraine is not only morally right, it is strategically sound.

As McFaul hopes, future American leaders should read this book. But so should anyone who cares about preventing future wars of aggression and preserving a world where power is constrained by rules. In short, if you care about Ukraine’s victory and about world security beyond Ukraine, Autocrats vs. Democrats is well worth your time.