Michael Abramowitz

President

Michael J. Abramowitz is the president of Freedom House, a non-partisan voice dedicated to supporting democracy. There, he oversees a unique combination of analysis, advocacy, and direct support to frontline defenders of freedom, especially those working in closed authoritarian societies. He previously directed the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Levine Institute for Holocaust Education, prior to which he led the museum’s genocide prevention efforts. He spent the first 24 years of his career at The Washington Post, where he was national editor and then White House correspondent. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and he was formally a Marshall Memorial fellow at the German Marshall Fund and media fellow at the Hoover Institution. A graduate of Harvard College, Michael is also a board member of the National Security Archive, a member of the Human Freedom Advisory Council for the George W. Bush Presidential Center, and a member of the Advisory Council of the Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue.

Publications & Appearances: 

Democracy Fights Back | The New York Times January 3, 2023

What the Wars and Crises of 2022 Foreshadow for 2023 | The New Yorker December 30, 2022

Michael Abramowitz on Preserving Democracy | Julie Mason Mornings on SiriusXM December 23, 2022

Are Putin and Xi in Decline? Populism and Autocracy Still Have Deep Resources | Bloomberg December 23, 2022

The American PR firm helping Saudi Arabia clean up its image | The Guardian December 22, 2022

It was a bad year for authoritarianism | LA Times December 20, 2022

Twitter Users Say Elon Musk Should Quit As CEO | Spectrum News 1 December 19, 2022

Glimpses of Democracy | The New York Times December 9, 2022

Authoritarian rulers suffered new setbacks in 2022. Here’s what the democratic world needs to do to seize the momentum | CNBC December 4, 2022

Protests in China Aren't As Rare As You Think | Newsweek December 2, 2022

Democracies like the U.S. should do more to stand up for freedom | The Dallas Morning News November 16, 2022

Biden’s about-face on Saudi Arabia was necessary — and inevitable | The Washington Post October 12, 2022

Parties’ Divergent Realities Challenge Biden’s Defense of Democracy | The New York Times September 2, 2022

See More Publications & Appearances

Foreign Affairs with Ed Luce & Michael Abramowitz | Politics War Room with James Carville & Al Hunt July 14, 2022

It’s Not Just Khashoggi: The Saudi Issue Biden Can’t Ignore | POLITICO July 13, 2022

Administrator Samantha Power Remarks at the National Press Club: "A Global Revolution of Dignity" | USAID June 7, 2022

Washington DC’s 500 Most Influential People | Washingtonian May 3, 2022

„Wir stecken mitten in einer Demokratie-Rezession“ | Berliner Zeitung April 21, 2022

Decades after the USSR collapsed, Eurasian countries struggle to maintain democracy | NPR April 20, 2022

Freedom in the Future: Towards a Transatlantic Approach to the Global Threat of Authoritarianism | The American Academy in Berlin — March 30, 2022

From Magnitsky to the Mothers of Mariupol: Congress Must Stand with Victims and Strengthen the Global Magnitsky Act | Human Rights First — March 24, 2022

Opinion: Freedom house chief: An inflection point for democracy | The Washington Post — March 1, 2022

Authoritarianism poses increasing threat to democracy | CBS News — February 28, 2022

The Growing Threat of a World Run by Dictators | Real Clear Politics — February 26, 2022

Putin’s Power Play with Michael Abramowitz | Ronald Reagan Institute — February 22, 2022

Michael Abramowitz on the Global Drive to Control Big Tech | Julie Mason Mornings on SiriusXM — December 30, 2021

100 world leaders will attend Biden's virtual summit on supporting democratic values | NPR — December 8, 2021

Opinion: Biden’s Summit for Democracy shouldn’t be just a photo op | The Washington Post — November 23, 2021

How to help reverse 'democratic decline' | Reliable Sources on CNN — October 10, 2021

After talks with Putin, Biden must act to support democracy and human rights | The Hill — June 18, 2021

China's Olympian Atrocity | Real Clear Politics — February 16, 2021

The long arm of the authoritarian state | The Washington Post — February 3, 2021

Racial Injustice Remains the Great Weakness of American Democracy | The Bulwark — June 4, 2020

Freedom of Movement is a Right, not a Privilege | The American Interest — May, 21 2020

Autocrats love a crisis. They're using the coronavirus pandemic to tighten their grip | The Los Angeles Times — April 13, 2020

American Paralysis Fuels Freedom's Retreat | The Bulwark — March 31, 2020

Can Zimbabwe be the next victory for democracy? | Washington Post — August 2, 2018

Americans still want their government to support democracy abroad | Dallas News — July 13, 2018

How Illiberal Leaders Attack Civil Society | Foreign Affairs — April 6, 2018

We looked at the state of democracy around the world, and the results are grim | The Washington Post — Jan. 17, 2018

Stop the Manipulation of Democracy Online | The New York Times — December 11, 2017

How Trump is undermining press freedom around the world | The Washington Post — May 2, 2017