Benjamin Leffel is a Sociology Ph.D. student at the University of California, Irvine (UCI), Kugelman Research Fellow for the Center for Citizen Peacebuilding at UCI, co-creator of the Center for Innovative Diplomacy Archive in the California Digital Library, and an associate of the Center for Global Leadership in the Paul Merage School of Business at UCI. He holds an M.A. in International Affairs from the School of International Service at the American University, Washington, D.C., and an M.A. in Sociology from UCI. His research on subnational networking, city diplomacy and Sino-foreign relations has informed the work of scholars and governments in the U.S., Britain and China.