Overview
Diana Fu is associate professor of Chinese politics and director of the Levinson Program in China and Asia-Pacific Studies. She is a non-resident senior fellow at The Brookings Institution and a public intellectual fellow with the National Committee on US-China Relations. Her research examines popular contention, repression, civil society, and authoritarian citizenship in contemporary China. Her most recent co-authored book, “How China Governs its Diaspora,” examines the Chinese state’s playbook of control overseas to influence diasporas and what makes this statecraft distinctive (Cambridge, forthcoming). She is the author of “Mobilizing Without the Masses: Control and Contention in China” (Cambridge, 2018), which won best book awards from the American Political Science Association, the American Sociological Association, and the International Studies Association. Her research and commentary have appeared BBC, Bloomberg, CBC, CNN, NPR, the Economist, and The New York Times, among others. She was host of the TVO documentary series “China Here and Now” and of POLITICO China Watcher. Before joining Cornell, Dr. Fu was a professor at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy and Political Science. She received her doctorate in Politics from Oxford University, where she studied as a Canadian Rhodes Scholar and previously served as co-national secretary for the Rhodes Scholarships in China.
Research Focus
Diana Fu studies state control and popular contention in contemporary China, with a recent focus on how the Chinese state exercises its power transnationally to govern populations outside of its sovereign borders. Her work has policy implications for understanding how and why domestic politics matters for deciphering Chinese politics beyond the headlines. She also practices and writes on political ethnography in the digital era.
Publications
Books
E. Dirks and Fu, D. (expected in 2026). Governing Global China’s Diaspora. Cambridge University Press, Global China Elements Series.
Fu, D. (2018). Mobilizing Without the Masses: Control and Contention in China. New York: Cambridge University Press. Cambridge Studies in Contentious Politics; Columbia University Studies of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute.
- Winner of the 2018 American Political Science Association Gregory Luebbert Award for best book in comparative politics published in the previous two years.
- Winner of the 2019 International Studies Association Best Book award from the International Political Sociology section.
- Co-winner of the 2019 American Sociological Association Charles Tilly Distinguished Contribution to Scholarship book award.
- Shortlisted for the 2020 Canadian Political Science Association Best Book in Comparative Politics.
Articles
Fu, D., R. Nielson and E. Schatz. (2026). “Ethnography and Ethnographic Sensibility in Political Science.” Annual Review of Political Science. Vol. 29:4.1-4.20.
M. Barantilpour and D. Fu. (2026). “Civil Society” in IPSA Companion to Political Science: A Practical Introduction to the 200 Most Important Concepts. Stockemer, D., S. Sawyer and A. Gagnon, (eds). Springer. [open access]
Fu, D. and C. Göbel. (2025). “Exposing State Repression: Digital Discursive Contention by Chinese Protestors.” Studies in Comparative International Development. Vol. 60:655-689. [open access]
Hou, R. and D. Fu. (2024). “Sorting Citizens: Governing via China’s Social Credit System.” Governance. 37 (1). P.59-78.
Fu, D. (2023). “The Indoctrination Dimension of Repression: Televised Confessions Scripts in China.” Mobilization. Vol.28 (3), p.323-342
- Runner-up for the 2020 best paper award from the International Studies Association’s human rights section.
E. Dirks and D. Fu. (2023). “Governing Untrustworthy Civil Society in China.” The China Journal. 89 (Jan), p.24-44.
Fu, D. (2022). “Why and How should the US Support Chinese Civil Society?” in The China Questions II: Critical Insights into the US-China Relationship. Carrai, M., J. Rudolph, M. Szonyi (eds). Harvard University Press.
Fu, D. and E. Dirks. (2022). “The Xi Jinping Era of Chinese Politics” in The Oxford History of Modern China, 3rd edition. Wasserstrom, J. (ed). Oxford University Press.
Fu, D. and E. Dirks. (2022). “The Party’s Struggle to Tame Civil Society in China” in The Party Leads All? The Role of the Chinese Communist Party in China’s Politics, Governance, Society, Economy, and External Relations. Delisle, J., and G. Yang (eds). Brookings Institution Press.
Fu, D. and C. Berman. (2022). “Unconventional Mobilization (Asia and the Middle East)” in The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Social & Political Movements, 2nd edition. Snow, D., D. Della Porta, B. Klandermans, and D. McAdam (eds). Wiley-Blackwell.
Fu, D. and R. Hou. (2022). “Rating Citizens with China’s Social Credit System” in CCP Futures: The New Era of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics. Pieke, F. and B. Hofman (eds). NUS Press.
Fu, D. and E. Simmons. (2021). “Ethnographic Approaches to Contentious Politics: The What, How, and Why.” Lead article of the special issue, “Studying Contentions Politics: From Afar or Up-Close? Fu, D. (ed). Comparative Political Studies. Vol. 54 (10). 1695-1721.
*Guest editor of the special issue, “Studying Contentions Politics: From Afar or Up-Close?” Comparative Political Studies. Vol. 54 (10).
Fu, D. (2021). “How the Party-State Harnessed People Power in China” in Stoltzfus, N. and C. Osmar (eds). The Power of Populism and People: Resistance and Protest in the Modern World. Bloomsbury.
Fu, D. and Distelhorst, G. (2020). “Political Participation and China’s Leadership Transition.” In Citizens & The State in Authoritarian Regimes. Bunce, V., Koesel, C. and J. Weiss, (eds). Oxford University Press. Ch.3, 59-86.
Distelhorst, G. and Fu, D. (2019). “Performing Authoritarian Citizenship: Public Transcripts in China.” Perspectives on Politics. Vol. 17(1). 106-121.
- Media: “Chinese Officials Use Hotlines to Take Public’s Pulse.” The Economist. (Feb. 4, 2017).
Fu, D. and Distelhorst, G. (2018). “Grassroots Participation and Repression under Hu Jintao and Xi Jinping.” The China Journal, Vol. 79, (January). 100-122.
- Most-read article in 2020-21; 2023-24
- Media: “In China’s Democracy Villages, No One Wants to Talk Anymore.” Reuters. (Dec. 3, 2017).
Fu, D. (2017). “Disguised Collective Action in China.” Comparative Political Studies. Vol. 50, No. 4. 499-527. Qualitative methods appendix published online, (Oct. 2016).
- Co-winner of the 2018 editorial board’s best article award published in Comparative Political Studies.
Fu, D. (2017). “Fragmented Control: Governing Contentious Civil Society in China.” Governance. Vol. 30(3). 445-462.
- Winner of the 2019 American Sociological Association’s distinguished scholarly article award from the Labor and Labor Movements section.
Fu, D. (2009). “A Cage of Voices: Producing and Doing Dagongmei in Contemporary China.” Modern China. Vol. 35(5). 527-561.
Selected Policy Reports
Fu, D. and E. Dirks (2025). Policy report. “How Can Canada Tackle Foreign Interference Without a US Ally?” Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada.
Fu, D. (2025). Policy report. “Distinguish Foreign Interference from Influence.” Johns Hopkins SAIS. Getting China Right at Home. Weiss, J. (ed). Launch for the China and the World Institute.
Fu, D. and E. Dirks (2024). Policy report. “The TikTok Debacle: Distinguishing Between Foreign Influence and Interference.” Brookings.
Dirks, E. and Fu, D. (2024). Policy report. “China’s Overseas Police Stations: An Imminent Security Threat?” Brookings Initiative on Nonstate Armed Actors (INAA) and Illegal Economies. The Brookings.
Fu, D. (2022). Policy report. “Is Rights Advocacy Civil Society in China Dead? How the United States Should Navigate People-to-People Exchange in a New Era.” The Woodrow Wilson Center.
Fu, D. and E. Dirks. (2021). Policy report. “Xi Jinping-Style Control and Civil Society Responses.” China Leadership Monitor, The Hoover Institution. Sept. Issue.
Dirks, E. and D. Fu. (2021). Policy report. “Disaggregating Xi Jinping’s China.” in Behind the Headlines Series. Canadian International Council. Mar. 2.
Responsibilities
Director, Levinson Program on China and Asia-Pacific Studies
