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Dr. Michael A. McFaul
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Essays/Book Reviews/Opinion Pieces

"Engaging Russia," International Herald Tribune, October 22, 2004.

"Russia’s democracy falters; Bush watches," Akron Beacon Journal October 1, 2004.

"State of Siege: Putin’s String Hand Is Failing Russia," Washington Post (Outlook Section), September 12, 2004.

"The Putin Paradox," Center for American Progress Website, June 24, 2004.

"Veering from Reagan," Washington Post, June 18, 2004.

"Reagan’s Unfinished Agenda: Democracy Still Has a Way to Go in Russia," San Francisco Chronicle, June 13, 2004.

"Russian Democracy Protects U.S. National Interests," Eurasia Outlook, No. 12 (2004) pp. 5-7.

With Urban Ahlin, Ronald Asmus, Steven Everts, Jana Hybaskova, Mark Leonard, and Michael Mertes, "A Joint Plan to Help the Greater Middle East," International Herald Tribune, March 15, 2004. Reprinted in several European and Asian newspapers.

"Russia’s Glass Is Half Full and Leaking," RFE/RL Political Weekly, March 15, 2004.

"Little to Show from Putin," Washington Post, March 14, 2004.

With Ronald Asmus, "Let’s Get Serious About Democracy in the Greater Middle East," PPI Front and Center, March 9, 2004.

With Abbas Milani, "Solidarity with Iran," Wall Street Journal, February 23, 2004. An extended version of this article appears in Hoover Digest, No. 2 (2004) pp. 59-69.

"Alyans ne vyzhil," Moskovskie Novosti, February 17, 2004.

"Stable and Stagnant Relations," Moscow Times, February 11, 2004.

"Reconsidering Our Foreign Policy: America’s second Change in Iraq," San Francisco Chronicle, December 21, 2003.

"Doom and Duma? Why the nationalists surged in the Russian election," Slate, December 16, 2003.

"Russian Elections Show Resurgence of Nationalism," San Jose Mercury News, December 12, 2003.

"The Dangers of 'Managed Democracy'," RFE/RL Russian Political Report, December 11, 2003.

"Manageable Nationalists?" Moscow Times, December 8, 2003.

"Communists' Demise, Nationalism on the Rise," The Moscow Times, December 8, 2003.

"Putin’s Project Almost Completed," Nezavisimaya Gazeta, December 8, 2003.

"Shine to the Light of Liberty in Russia as Well," Hoover Weekly Essay, November 24, 2003, republished in National Review and The New Republic.

"Vladimir Putin's Grand Strategy ... for Anti-democratic Regime Change in Russia," The Weekly Standard, Volume 9, Issue 10, November 17, 2003.

"Wrong Time to ‘Stay the Course’," Washington Post, August 24, 2003.

"The Real Putin," Wall Street Journal (Europe) July 9, 2003.

"How to Look Credible in Promoting Liberty," Christian Science Monitor, June 16, 2003.

"Camps of Terror, Often Overlooked," [review of Anne Applebaum’s Gulag: A History], New York Times, June 11, 2003.

"Democracy as a New International Norm?" Hoover Weekly Essay, published in June 2003 issues of The National Review, The New Republic, and the The Weekly Standard.

"Budet li vtoroi medovyi mesyats?" [Will There Be A Second Honeymoon?] Stolichnaya Vechernaya Gazeta, May 21, 2003.

"How to Reinvigorate the Relationship," Moscow Times, May 26, 2003.

"Staying Power," (re: democracy in Iraq), San Jose Mercury News, April 20, 2002.

"Between Restoration and Revolution in Iraq," Washington Post, April 16, 2003.

"Reshaping the Middle East: Winning a Lasting Peace in Iraq Will Take More than Tanks," San Francisco Chronicle, February 23, 2003.

"U.S. Ignores Putin's Assault on Rights," Los Angeles Times, February 2, 2003.

"Bush’s Turn," San Jose Mercury News, January 19, 2003.

"An Alliance That Really Works," New York Times, November 24, 2002.

"A Reshaped Role for the U.N.," Los Angeles Times, October 6, 2002.

"We Need a Plan for Iran If We Topple Interlinked Iraq," Contra Costa Times, October 6, 2002. Also published as a Hoover Essay called "What about Iran?" in The Weekly Standard and The New Republic.

"A New, More Flexible George W. Bush?" San Francisco Chronicle, September 29, 2002.

"Unfinished Business in Europe," Washington Post, September 22, 2002.

"Change the Focus on Iraq," Christian Science Monitor, September 16, 2002.

"Keep Pressing Putin," (with James Goldgeier) Christian Science Monitor, May 29, 2002.

"United States/Russia: Landmark Summit," Oxford Analytica Daily Brief, May 23, 2002.

"Taking the Russia Summit a Step Further," New York Times, May 20, 2002.

"The Russian Graduate," (re: Jackson-Vanik) Washington Post, May 10, 2002.

"The Other Half of the Job," (re: rebuilding Afghanistan), Washington Post, February 2, 2002.

"Two Out of Three Is Not Good Enough," (re: Russian reform), Moscow Times, January 28, 2002.

"Reconstructing Afghanistan?" book review of Akhmed Rashid’s The Taliban, and Larry Goodson’s Afghanistan’s Endless War, Journal of Democracy, Vol. 13, No. 1 (January 2002), pp. 170-175.

"A Half-Democratic Russian Will Always Be a Half-Ally to the U.S.," (with Nikolai Zlobin) Obshchaya Gazeta, No. 46, November 14-21, 2001. Republished in Demokratizatsiya, Vol. 9, No. 4 (Fall 2001) pp. 476-481.

"United States and Russia: Revised Relations," Oxford Analytica Daily Brief, November 12, 2001.

"Putin’s Risky Westward Turn," Christian Science Monitor, November 9, 2001.

"Milestones of Russian Reform," The Washington Times, November 8, 2001.

"The Moment of Truth for the Kremlin," (with Nikolai Zlobin) Obshchaya Gazeta, No. 41, October 11-18, 2001.

"This is Russia's Chance to Become a Full Partner," San Jose Mercury News, October 2, 2001.

"Putin’s Moment of Truth," The Weekly Standard, October 1, 2001.

"Strike at the Root: Deploying our Full Arsenal," (with Linda McGinnis) San Francisco Chronicle, September 30, 2001.

"To Fight the New ‘Ism’," Washington Post, September 22, 2001.

"Thank You Russia," Vremya-Novosti, September 17, 2001.

"Putinskie Svechki," Moskovskii Komsomolets, August 7, 2001.

"Bush’s Post-Cold War Vision," Christian Science Monitor, July 26, 2001.

"Russia’s 12 Myths About the U.S. Media," The Moscow Times, July 13, 2001.

"Judge Putin by His Democratic Acts, Not His Talk," Los Angeles Times, June 24, 2001.

"West of East for Russia?" The Washington Post, June 9, 2001.

"Putin Shows His True Colors," The New Republic, May 28, 2001, p. 13. Reprinted in The Hoover Digest, No. 3 (2001) pp. 139-141.

"A Step Backward on Nuclear Cooperation," New York Times, April 11, 2001.

"Time for Putin to Take the Initiative," Moscow Times, April 9, 2001. Reprinted in Russian on Strana.ru.

"The New Russia," (review of Stephen Cohen’s Failed Crusade), The Weekly Standard, April 9, 2001, pp. 37-38

"U.S. Must Speak Out for Russian Democracy," Los Angeles Times, April 8, 2001.

"Contradiction Is Good," strana.ru, January 29, 2001.

"Moscow, Misreading Bush," Washington Post, January 23, 2001.

"Get Real, Russia," Moscow Times, January 18, 2001.

"Yeltsin and Family Return," (review of Boris Yeltsin's Midnight Diaries), The New Leader, November/December 2000, pp. 18-20.

"No Simple Truths about Russia," Washington Post, September 30, 2000.

Review of Elections and Voters in Post-communist Russia, Matthew Wyman, Stephen White, and Sarah Oates, eds., Slavic Review, Vol. 60, N.1 (Spring 2001) pp. 191-192.

"Kremlin Man Fails the Test," Sunday Times (London), August 27, 2000.

"Russian Rationalism, At Home and Abroad," Wall Street Journal Europe, July 17, 2000. An extended version of this essay appeared as "The Putin Paradox," Hoover Digest, No. 4 (2000) pp. 151-155.

"Indifferent to Democracy," Washington Post, March 3, 2000. Reprinted in International Herald Tribune, Newsday, Moscow Times, and Obshchaya Gazeta.

"With Yeltsin Gone, Putin Seems Destined to Be Next President," Los Angeles Times, January 2, 2000.

"Scoring Russia’s Duma Vote: State 2, Society 1," Parliamentary Elections Bulletin, No. 4 (January 2000).

"Parliamentary Parties and Presidential Coalitions," Parliamentary Elections Bulletin, No. 3 (December 1999).

"Ulterior Motives in Chechnya," The Weekly Standard, December 13, 1999.

"Who Won Russia," Policy Memo No. 88 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard Program on New Approaches to Russian Security, December 1999).

"War Protesters Scarce," Moscow Times, October 26, 1999.

"Despite All the Bad News, Democracy Marches On," Los Angeles Times, October 3, 1999. Abridged version reprinted in the International Herald Tribune, October 14, 1999.

"Russia’s Revolution Is Not Over," Christian Science Monitor, September 20, 1999.

"Tak Kto Zhe Poteryl Rossiyu," [Who Lost Russia?] Vek, September 17-23, 1999.

"Russia's Political Forces Realign," Wall Street Journal (European Edition), August 26, 1999.

"Russia’s Pyhrric ‘Pristina Victory’," Wall Street Journal (European Edition), June 17, 1999. Reprinted as "Kosovo Joyride," The Hoover Digest, No. 4 (Fall 1999) pp. 102-107.

"Poslednii Rubikon," Itogi, June 15, 1999.

"Balkan Conflict Turns Russia into Vocal Defender of the U.N.," The Changing United Nations, May-June 1999.

"With Foes Like Communists, How Can Yeltsin Ever Lose?" Los Angeles Times, May 23, 1999, p. M2.

"Time to Follow the Law," Moscow Times, May 15, 1999.

"Dazhe prezidenty dolzhny igrat’ po pravilam," [Even the President Must Play by the Rules] Vek, May 21-27, 1999, p. 5.

"Russia’s PR Coup," Washington Post, May 8, 1999.

"Don’t Look to Russia for Help on Kosovo," New York Times, April 8, 1999, p. A27. Reprinted as "Now Is Hardly the Time to Play the Russia Card," International Herald Tribune, April 9, 1999, p. 7.

"NATO’s Collateral Damage in Russia," The Christian Science Monitor, April 5, 1999, p. 9.

"Russia: Indispensable Thorn in U.S. Side," Los Angeles Times, April 4, 1999, pp. M1 & 6.

"Voinstvennyi liberal’nyi romantik," [Aggressive Liberal Romantic] Itogi, March 30, 1999, pp. 14-15.

"The Demon Within," Moscow Times, March 2, 1999.

"O chem sebe dumayut v Vashington," [What Do They Think about Us in Washington], Vek, March 19-25, 1999, p. 1.

"Kosova Intervention by U.S. Will Be a Hard Sell," Illyria, February 26-March 3, 1999, p. 7.

"The Case for American Engagement with Russia," Policy Memo No. 62 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard Program on New Approaches to Russian Security, December 1998).

"Rano stavit’ krest na Rossii," [It’s Too Early to Place a Cross over Russia] Vek, No. 40, October 9-15, 1998, p. 1.

"A Flawed Pragmatism," (with Jim Goldgeier) Moscow Times, October 10, 1998.

"A Russia Still Redeemable," Washington Post, September 21, 1998. Reprinted as "Into the Trenches to Help a Redeemable Russia," International Herald Tribune, September 22, 1998; and "West’s Aid to Russia Needs to Continue, but Change," St. Petersburg Times, September 25, 1998.

"Is This the Last Red Duma?" Moscow Times, September 10, 1998.

"Forget about Monica, It’s Moscow and the Stakes are Global," Los Angeles Times, August 14, 1998. Reprinted as "U.S.-Russia Summit: Clinton’s Big Chance," International Herald Tribune, August 20,1998.

"Russia Needs Real Reform, Not Higher Taxes," New York Times, August 4, 1998.

"Clinton’s Moscow Mission," PONARS Policy Memo, No. 30 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard Program on New Approaches to Russian Security, August 1998).

"The Rebirth of Russian Studies," (review of Michael Urban, Vyacheslav Igrunov, and Sergei Mitrokhin, The Rebirth of Russian Politics (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997), American Sociological Review, Summer 1998.

"China Is No Russia," New York Times, May 26, 1998.

"Russia: The Sky Has Not Fallen," Washington Post, May 19, 1998, p. A21.

"Perils of Yeltsin's Passion," Moscow Times, April 2, 1998.

"Theorizing about Post-Communist Transitions," book review of Klaus von Beyme, Transitions to Democracy in Eastern Europe, (1996), in Slavic Review, Winter 1998.

"Is Yeltsin Irreplaceable?" Analysis of Current Events, Vol. 10, No. 1, (January 1998), pp. 5 & 11.

"Life after Yeltsin," Moscow Times, December 22, 1997.

"Perils of Analogizing History," St. Petersburg Times, December 8-14, 1997.

"The Myth of Absolute Power," Moscow Times, November 21, 1997. Reprinted as "The Myth of Russian Dictatorship," in Hoover Digest, No. 2 (1998) pp. 124-126.

"Skewed NATO Debate," Moscow Times, October 22, 1997.

"Russia: The Elections of '96," Hoover Digest, No. 4 (1997) pp. 65-72.

"Russian Regional Elections: Presidential Primaries?" Analysis of Current Events, Vol. 9, No. 9, (September 1997), pp. 1-3.

"Time Ripe for Yabloko," Moscow Times, September 22, 1997.

"Gefar von rechts," Die Zeit, August 1, 1997.

"New Kind of Candidate," (with Sergei Markov) Moscow Times, July 23, 1997.

"Russia's Ominous Void," New York Times, July 22, 1997.

"Lebed: the Next Hope?" Moscow Times, February 27, 1997.

"Revolutionary Thinker or Good Loser?" (review of Mikhail Gorbachev's Memoirs), Philadelphia Inquirer, November 2, 1996.

"Clinton's Foreign Policy: The Second Term," Moscow Times, October 26, 1996.

"Politicheskii Razklad v Rossii Izmenilsya," [The Political Spectrum in Russia Has Changed], Kapital, October 2-8, 1996.

"What Russian Crisis?" New York Times, October 1, 1996. Reprinted as "Pre-election Maneuvers for a Yeltsin Succession," in International Herald Tribune, October 2, 1996; and "What Crisis?" in Hoover Digest, No. 1 (1997), pp. 78-80.

"Democracy's Triumph in Russia," NDI Reports, Summer 1996.

"Yanks Brag, Press Bites," The Weekly Standard, Vol. 1, No. 43, July 22, 1996, pp. 14-16. Reprinted as "Scoop or Doop? American 'Heroes' in Moscow," The Moscow Times, July 17, 1996.

"Russia: Still A Long Way to Go," Washington Post, July 7, 1996.

"A Victory for Optimists," Moscow Times, July 6, 1996.

With Vladimir Bokser and Vasilii Ostavshev, "Elektoraty priserov" [The Electorate of the Winners], Prezidentskie Vybory v Rossii, No. 9, (June 1996), pp. 5-8.

"Who Supported Lebed?" The Moscow Times, June 26, 1996. Reprinted in Russian as "Komu otdadut golosa storoniki Lebedya?" Kapital, June 26-July 2, 1996, p. 12.

With Vladimir Bokser and Vasilii Ostavshev, "Golosa -- oboim, strana --odnomu," [Voices of Two, Country of One], Itogi, June 25, 1996, pp. 10-12.

"Has Yeltsin Lost Steam?" Moscow Times, June 15, 1996.

"Trevozhnoe leto 96-go," [The Dangerous Summer of 1996], Rossiiskaya Gazeta, May 13-17, 1996, p. 3. Reprinted in L.N. Doprokhotov, ed., Ot Yeltsina k Yeltsinu: prezidentskaya gonka-96 (Moscow: Terra, 1997) pp. 472-475.

"Russia Between Elections: McFaul on Parties, Platforms, and Polarization," Russia Business Watch, Vol. 4, No. 2 (Spring 1996) pp. 49-54.

"Is Yeltsin the Chechens' Biggest Hostage?," Chicago Tribune, January 25, 1996, p. 27.

"Balance in Russian Parliament Will Be the Same," Houston Chronicle, December 22, 1995.

"A Communist Rout?" New York Times, December 20, 1995.

"U.S. Needs to Support Free and Fair Elections," The Plain Dealer, December 18, 1995.

"Signal Our Support for Democracy," Los Angeles Times, December 11, 1996.

"Like a Democracy," Washington Post, July 11, 1995.

"A Win for Democracy," Moscow Times, July 4, 1995.

"Barking now, biting later," (Russian Electoral Politics and Economic Reform) Business Russia, The Economist Intelligence Unit, June 1995.

"Pochemu Rossiiskaya Politika Imeet Znachenie," [Why Russian Politics Matters], Doverie, Nos. 15-16 (1995).

"Russia Aid: Not All or Nothing," Washington Times, February 16, 1995.

"West Must Think Hard (about aid to Russia)" Moscow Times, January 28, 1995.

"Who Should Be the Owners?" Conversion, No. 5, January 1995.

"One Man, One Vote, One Time?" Moscow News, No. 44, November 4-10, 1994.

"Spektr Russkogo Fashizma," [The Specter of Russian Fascism], Nezavisimaya Gazeta, November 2, 1994.

"Nut 'N' Honey: Why Zhirinovsky Can Win," The New Republic, February 14, 1994.

"The Specter of Russian Fascism: Recommendations for U.S. Policy," Conversion, No. 3, January 1994.

"Russia Vote Is Democracy for Real," Newsday, December 3, 1993.

"SSSR i YuAR: Kak Mi Pokhozhi! [The USSR and South Africa: How Similar We Are!], Stolitsa, (Moscow) No. 34, 1991.

"Workers of the World Unite! Again? Socialist Politics in Post-Communist Russia," Work in Progress, (Johannesburg, South Africa), No. 76, July/August 1991.

"1789, 1917 Can Guide '90s Soviets," San Jose Mercury News, August 19, 1990.

"A Conversation with Yuri Skubco: Leader of the Democratic Union" The New Leader, (New York), Vol. LXXIII, No. 15, (August 1990).

"The Beginning of the End for Gorbachev," The Times (San Mateo, CA), July 27, 1990.

Biography | Curriculum Vitae (.doc or .pdf) | Publications | Op-Eds | Courses
© 2004 Dr. Michael A. McFaul, All Rights Reserved.