2026 Michael McFaul: Political Science Researcher – H-Index, Publications & Awards

Discipline name	D-Index	World Ranking	Current World Ranking	National Ranking	Current National Ranking	Publications	Citations
Political Science	42	431	387	241	206	240	9303

Overview

Michael McFaul is affiliated with Stanford University in the United States. Their research primarily addresses issues within the social sciences, focusing especially on political science and international relations.

The main topics covered in their work include:

European and Russian Geopolitical Military Strategies
Post-Soviet Geopolitical Dynamics
International Relations and Foreign Policy
Russia and Soviet political economy
Political Conflict and Governance
European Politics and Security

McFaul's publications appear frequently in the following venues:

International Security
Journal of democracy
The Washington Quarterly

Recent papers authored by McFaul include:

Putin, Putinism, and the Domestic Determinants of Russian Foreign Policy (2020, International Security)
Russia's Road to Autocracy (2021, Journal of democracy)
Cold War Lessons and Fallacies for US-China Relations Today (2020, The Washington Quarterly)

They have collaborated with several coauthors, notably:

Robert Person
Elias Götz

McFaul's work addresses developments in European and Russian strategic military policies as well as the dynamics of post-Soviet political transitions. Their focus extends to questions of political conflict, governance, and the economic dimensions of Russia and the Soviet legacy.

Best Publications

The Fourth Wave of Democracy and Dictatorship: Noncooperative Transitions in the Postcommunist World

Michael McFaul

1223
Citations
Transitions from Postcommunism

Michael A. McFaul

631
Citations
Russia's unfinished revolution

Michael McFaul

558
Citations
Russia's Unfinished Revolution: Political Change from Gorbachev to Putin

Michael A. McFaul

529
Citations
A tale of two worlds: core and periphery in the post-cold war era

James M. Goldgeier;Michael McFaul

454
Citations
Democracy Promotion as a World Value

Michael McFaul

451
Citations
State Power, Institutional Change, and the Politics of Privatization in Russia

Michael McFaul

374
Citations
Power and Purpose: U.S. Policy toward Russia After the Cold War

James M. Goldgeier;Michael McFaul

300
Citations
Popular Choice and Managed Democracy: The Russian Elections of 1999 and 2000

Timothy J. Colton;Michael McFaul

297
Citations
Ukraine Imports Democracy: External Influences on the Orange Revolution

Michael McFaul

252
Citations
Between Dictatorship and Democracy: Russian Post-Communist Political Reform

Michael A. McFaul;Nikolai Petrov;Andrei Ryabov

184
Citations
Promoting democracy and the rule of law : American and European strategies

Amichai A. Magen;Thomas Risse-Kappen;Michael McFaul

169
Citations
Advancing Democracy Abroad: Why We Should and How We Can

Michael A. McFaul

168
Citations
Russia's 1996 Presidential Election: The End of Polarized Politics

Michael A. McFaul

163
Citations
One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

Michael McFaul

137
Citations
Armageddon Averted: The Soviet Collapse

Robert Legvold;Stephen Kotkin;Michael McFaul

135
Citations
A Precarious Peace: Domestic Politics in the Making of Russian Foreign Policy

Michael A. McFaul

129
Citations
Democracy and Authoritarianism in the Postcommunist World

Valerie Bunce;Michael McFaul;Kathryn Stoner-Weiss

128
Citations
Revolution in orange : the origins of Ukraine's democratic breakthrough

Anders Åslund;Michael Anthony McFaul

124
Citations
Explaining Party Formation and Nonformation in Russia: Actors, Institutions, and Chance

Michael McFAUL

102
Citations
“Managed Democracy” in Russia: Putin and the Press

Masha Lipman;Michael McFaul

94
Citations
Russia's 1996 Presidential Elections

Michael McFaul

89
Citations
Introduction: American and European Strategies to Promote Democracy — Shared Values, Common Challenges, Divergent Tools?

Amichai Magen;Michael A. McFaul

89
Citations
Who Lost Russia (This Time)? Vladimir Putin

Kathryn Stoner;Michael McFaul

88
Citations
Promoting Democracy and the Rule of Law

Amichai Magen;Thomas Risse;Michael A. McFaul

84
Citations
The Troubled Birth of Russian Democracy: Parties, Personalities, and Programs

Michael McFaul;Sergei Markov

78
Citations
Putin, Putinism, and the Domestic Determinants of Russian Foreign Policy

Michael A. McFaul

71
Citations
Should Democracy Be Promoted or Demoted

Francis Fukuyama;Michael McFaul

70
Citations
Bringing the Russian State Back in: Explanations of the Derailed Transition to Market Democracy@@@Kremlin Capitalism: Privatizing the Russian Economy@@@Democracy from Scratch@@@Problems of Democratic Transition and Consolidation@@@Russia's 1996 Presidential Election: The End of Polarized Politics

Cynthia Roberts;Thomas Sherlock;Joseph R. Blasi;Maya Kroumova

50
Citations

Frequent Co-Authors

Larry Diamond Stanford University

Francis Fukuyama Stanford University

Thomas Risse Freie Universität Berlin

Douglas L. Kruse Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

Anders Åslund Peterson Institute for International Economics

Juan J. Linz Yale University

Daniel Byman Georgetown University

Robert Legvold Columbia University

Barry R. Weingast Stanford University

M. Steven Fish University of California, Berkeley

External Links

Wikipedia of Michael McFaul Personal website of Michael McFaul

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