New Books in Science, Technology, and Society

Fionna S. Cunningham, "Under the Nuclear Shadow: China's Information-Age Weapons in International Security" (Princeton UP, 2024)

Jan 9, 2025

Fionna S. Cunningham is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania, with expertise in technology and conflict, particularly regarding China. She discusses China's unique military strategy using information-age weapons to navigate geopolitical tensions without resorting to nuclear war. Key topics include China's approach to limited conflicts, the role of cyber capabilities and precision missiles, and the implications of its evolving military strategies on global security dynamics.

57:39

Episode guests

Fiona S. Cunningham

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Quick takeaways

China's strategic substitution theory emphasizes the use of non-nuclear offensive capabilities to exert pressure while mitigating nuclear conflict risks.

The effectiveness of China's information-age weapons in achieving military objectives remains uncertain amid evolving international dynamics and counterstrategies.

Deep dives

China's Limited War Dilemma

The limited war dilemma refers to the challenge faced by nuclear-armed states in using military force while avoiding escalation to nuclear war. Following the 1995-96 Taiwan Straits crisis, China realized that any military action regarding Taiwan would likely provoke a U.S. military response. This prompted Chinese leaders to reassess their military strategy, leading them to prepare for limited conflicts rather than life-threatening wars, as was the case during the Cold War. The crisis highlighted the necessity for China to navigate military threats carefully, aware of the potential for catastrophic consequences amid its longstanding political goals concerning Taiwan.

Intro

2min

Navigating Geopolitical Tensions: China's Limited War Dilemma

13min

Exploring China's Information-Age Military Capabilities

5min

Examining China's Military Strategy: Beyond Strategic Substitution

5min

China's Evolving Military Strategies

26min

Exploring China's Nuclear Cooperation and Global Influence

2min

How can states use military force to achieve their political aims without triggering a catastrophic nuclear war? Among the states facing this dilemma of fighting limited wars, only China has given information-age weapons such a prominent role. While other countries have preferred the traditional options of threatening to use nuclear weapons or fielding capabilities for decisive conventional military victories, China has instead chosen to rely on offensive cyber operations, counter-space capabilities, and precision conventional missiles to coerce its adversaries.

In Under the Nuclear Shadow: China's Information-Age Weapons in International Security (Princeton UP, 2024), Fiona Cunningham examines this distinctive aspect of China’s post–Cold War deterrence strategy, developing an original theory of “strategic substitution.” When crises with the United States highlighted the inadequacy of China’s existing military capabilities, Cunningham argues, China pursued information-age weapons that promised to provide credible leverage against adversaries rapidly.

Drawing on hundreds of original Chinese-language sources and interviews with security experts in China, Cunningham provides a rare and candid glimpse from Beijing into the information-age technologies that are reshaping how states gain leverage in the twenty-first century. She offers unprecedented insights into China’s military modernization trajectory as she details the strengths and weaknesses of China’s strategic substitution approach. Under the Nuclear Shadow also looks ahead at the uncertain future of China’s strategic substitution approach and briefly explores too how other states might seize upon the promise of emerging technologies to address weaknesses in their own military strategies.

Our guest today is Fiona S. Cunningham, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Pennsylvania.

Our host is Eleonora Mattiacci, an Associate Professor of Political Science at Amherst College. She is the author of "Volatile States in International Politics" (Oxford University Press, 2023).

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