

Email: qianjl@bc.edu
East Asian Politics
Authoritarian Politics聽
Historical Political Economy聽
Formal Theory聽
Jingyuan 鈥淛uan鈥 Qian studies comparative political institutions, power-sharing, and bureaucracy in both historical and contemporary contexts, with a regional focus on China and East Asia. His ongoing book project, titled聽Statebuilding by Campaign: The Making of Modern Chinese Bureaucracy (1949-76), studies the various mechanisms employed by the Chinese party-state under Chairman Mao Zedong to manage and control subordinate bureaucrats during the first three decades of the People鈥檚 Republic of China.听聽
Qian鈥檚 research has been published in peer-reviewed journals and edited volumes, including聽Comparative Politics,聽The China Quarterly,听贰迟丑苍辞辫辞濒颈迟颈肠蝉, and聽The Routledge Handbook of Anti-Corruption Research and Practice. 聽His interviews and commentaries have also been featured in major English- and Chinese-language media outlets, including Bloomberg TV,听The Atlantic,听South China Morning Post,听Made in China Journal, and聽The聽Initium Media.听
At Boston College, Qian teaches courses in Chinese politics, comparative politics, statebuilding in East Asia, and political game theory. Qian holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a Master of Public Policy from Georgetown University, and a Bachelor鈥檚 degree in political science and history from Macalester College.
Prior to joining Boston College, Qian was an Earl S. Johnson Lecturer in Political Science at the University of Chicago (2023-25) and an Associate in Research at the Margolis Institute at Duke University (2016-18). Before entering academia, he worked as a project consultant at Navigant Consulting and as a government affairs assistant at the E.U. Chamber of Commerce in China. He also served as a legislative intern with Minnesota State Senator Foung Hawj and as a communications intern with Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton. 聽
Co-authored with F. Tang, 鈥淭ackling Corruption through Top-Down Politicized Campaigns: Assessing China鈥檚 Anti-Corruption Crackdown鈥 in聽The Routledge Handbook of Anti-Corruption Research and Practice, eds. J. Pozsgai-Alvarez and R. Bratu, Routledge, 2025.
Co-authored with S. Bai. 2024. 鈥淟oyalty Signaling, Bureaucratic Compliance, and Variation in Repression in Autocracies.鈥澛Comparative Politics聽56(4) (2024): 423-447.
Co-authored with F. Tang. 2023. 鈥淐ampaign-Style Personnel Management: Task Responsiveness and Selective Delocalization during China鈥檚 Anti-Corruption Crackdown.鈥澛The China Quarterly聽256 (2023): 919-938.
鈥淗istorical Ethnic Conflicts and the Rise of Islamophobia in Modern China.鈥澛Ethnopolitics聽22(1) (2023): 43鈥68.