Ning Leng  冷宁

I am an Assistant Professor at the McCourt School of Public Policy, Georgetown University. For the year of 2025-2026, I am a Wilson China Fellow at the Wilson Center.

I specialize in comparative politics with a focus on political economy, authoritarian institutions, and Chinese politics and economy. My first book, "Politicizing Business: How Firms Are Made to Serve the Party-State in China," (Cambridge University Press, 2025) reveals how the Chinese state solicits political services from companies, resulting in an unstable investment environment and unintended development outcomes. 

I am currently conducting fieldwork for my second book on the successes and failures of Chinese companies in South America. My research is supported by the National Science Foundation, the Georgetown Americas Institute, the Georgetown Provost's Pilot Research Grant, the Chiang Ching-Kuo Foundation, the Institute for Humane Studies, and various other research grants. 

I received my Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 2018. I was a postdoc at Harvard University's Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation between 2018-2019. Before my academic life, I was a management consultant in Chicago, specializing in strategies and operations.