Jiali Li is a Ph.D. Candidate in Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley. Her research interests include the study of nationalism, state-society relations, authoritarian politics, political communication, and information manipulation. She is an expert in Chinese politics, including nationalism, political consumerism, business and politics, propaganda, and contentious politics.

Her dissertation analyzes the three-way relationship among the state, society, and businesses in the development of Chinese nationalism. Based on online ethnography, in-depth interviews, case studies, and survey experiments, the project investigates the changes in state priorities in managing nationalist protests, the development of various popular expressions of nationalist sentiments, and the business strategies in response to the rise of consumer nationalist protests.

Her research has been supported by UC Berkeley’s Institute of International Studies and Institute of Global, International and Area Studies, as well as the Institute of East Asian Studies.

Prior to beginning graduate studies at Berkeley, she received her B.A. in Statistics and Government with a Minor in Asian Studies from Cornell University. She has also worked as an actuarial analyst at Aon Hewitt and a researcher and data analyst at MapLight.org, a non-profit research group on U.S. federal and state campaign finance.