Publications
peer-reviewed journal articles
Fiona S. Cunningham and Kristin ven Bruusgaard, “Escalate to Survive? Nuclear Weapons in Contemporary Great Power Conflict,” International Security Vol. 50, No. 4, (2026, forthcoming)
Fiona S. Cunningham, “Other than Law: Legitimizing China’s Nuclear Strategy,” Security Studies Vol. 34, No. 5 (2025)
Fiona S. Cunningham, “China’s Test of the Nuclear Revolution: Technology, Great Power Competition, and the Nuclear Balance,” Journal of Strategic Studies Vol. 48, No. 2 (2025)
Fiona S. Cunningham, “Strategic Substitution: China's Search for Coercive Leverage in the Information Age,” International Security Vol. 47, No. 1 (2022) [Click here for PDF]
Fiona S. Cunningham, “The Maritime Rung on the Escalation Ladder: Naval Blockades in a U.S.-China Conflict,” Security Studies Vol. 29, No. 4 (2020)
Ben Buchanan and Fiona S. Cunningham, “Preparing the Cyber Battlefield: American and Chinese Perspectives on Cyber Escalation Risks,” Texas National Security Review, Vol. 3 No. 4 (Fall 2020)
Fiona S. Cunningham and M. Taylor Fravel, “Dangerous Confidence? Chinese Views on Nuclear Escalation,” International Security, Vol. 44 No. 2 (Fall 2019) [Click here for PDF]
Reviewed by Andrew W. Reddie in H-Diplo/ISSF
Fiona S. Cunningham and M. Taylor Fravel, “Assuring Assured Retaliation: China’s Nuclear Posture and U.S.-China Strategic Stability,” International Security, Vol. 40 No. 2 (Fall 2015) [Click here for PDF]
Fiona S. Cunningham and David Kinley, “The Trinity and the Dragon: Reconciling Finance, Human Rights and the Environment in China,” Journal of Human Rights and the Environment, Vol. 3, No. 1 (2012)
Fiona S. Cunningham, “The Stellar Status Symbol: True Motives for China’s Space Program,” China Security, Vol. 5, No. 3 (2009)
peer-reviewed book chapters
Fiona S. Cunningham, “The Role of Nuclear Weapons in China’s National Defence,” in Rory Medcalf, Katherine Mansted, Stephan Frühling and James Goldrick, The Future of the Undersea Deterrent: A Global Survey (Canberra: Australian National University, 2020)
policy articles
Fiona S. Cunningham, “The Unknowns About China’s Nuclear Modernization Program,” Arms Control Today, June 2023
Fiona S. Cunningham, “Cooperation Under Asymmetry? The Future of U.S.-China Nuclear Relations,” The Washington Quarterly, Vol. 44, No. 2 (Summer 2021)
An earlier, modified version also appeared as “Is the Nuclear Genie Out of the Bottle? Strategic Stability in U.S.-China Relations,” Working Paper, the Penn Project on the Future of U.S.-China Relations, September 2020
invited reviews and essays
Fiona S. Cunningham and Lena Andrews, “The Pedagogy of Owen Coté,” essay for RJISSF Tribute to the Scholarship and Legacy of Owen R. Coté, Jr., H-Diplo, June 2025
Fiona S. Cunningham, “Chinese Assessments of Starlink and U.S.-China Space Relations,” CSIS Interpret: China, December 2, 2024
Fiona S. Cunningham, “Accommodative Signaling and the Role of Risk,” Security Studies, Vol. 31, No. 4 (2022) (response to Erica Lonergan and Shawn Lonergan, “Cyber Operations, Accommodative Signaling, and the De-Escalation of International Crises”)
Fiona S. Cunningham, review essay of Brendan Rittenhouse Green, The Revolution that Failed: Nuclear Competition, Arms Control, and the Cold War, for H-Diplo Roundtable XXIII-11, November 2021
policy briefs and reports
Fiona S. Cunningham, “Managing U.S.-China Nuclear Risks: A Guide for Australia,” Policy Brief, United States Studies Centre, University of Sydney, September 30, 2020
Fiona S. Cunningham, “Nuclear Command, Control, and Communications Systems of the People’s Republic of China,” Technology for Global Security and Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainability, July 18, 2019
Fiona S. Cunningham and Rupal N. Mehta, “Alliances, Extended Deterrence, and Managing Escalation in East Asia,” in Sharon Stirling (ed.) Shifting Dynamics: Next Generation Assessments on Asian Security (Washington, D.C.: German Marshall Fund of the United States, 2016)
Fiona S. Cunningham and M. Taylor Fravel, “Why China Won’t Abandon its Nuclear Strategy of Assured Retaliation,” Policy Brief, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, December 2015
Rory Medcalf and Fiona Cunningham, (eds), Disarming Doubt: The Future of Extended Nuclear Deterrence in East Asia (Sydney: Lowy Institute for International Policy, 2012)
Photo (above): canals of Beijing in fall.