Kenneth Mori McElwain is a Professor of Comparative Politics at the Institute of Social Science, University of Tokyo. During the 2024-25 academic year, he is a Visiting Professor of Japanese Politics at Columbia University. His research focuses on comparative institutions and Japanese politics, with a particular emphasis on constitutional design and change. An Irish national raised in Tokyo, he holds a BA in public and international affairs from Princeton University and a PhD in political science from Stanford University. Before joining UTokyo in 2015, he was an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Michigan.
Dr. McElwain’s work has been widely published in journals, edited volumes, and monographs. His recent book, The Universality and Originality of the Japanese Constitution in Quantitative Perspective (Chikura Shobō, 2022), received the 44th Ishibashi Tanzan Award and the 34th Asia-Pacific Award Special Prize. In addition to his research, he serves as Editor-in-Chief of Social Science Japan Journal, published by Oxford University Press, and on the Board of Directors for the Japanese Political Science Association.
