Fiona S. Cunningham

Fiona S. Cunningham is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania. She studies international security with a focus on nuclear strategy, cyber security, and China. Her first book, Under the Nuclear Shadow: China's Information-Age Weapons in International Security (Princeton University Press, 2024), examines China’s distinctive approach to coercing an adversary under the shadow of nuclear war, which relies on substitutes for nuclear threats. Her research has appeared in academic and policy outlets including International Security, Security Studies, and The Washington Quarterly. Fiona holds nonresident affiliations with the MIT Security Studies Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney. Previously, she was Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at the George Washington University. Fiona received her Ph.D. from the Department of Political Science at MIT in 2018.