Kenneth Mori McElwain

Profile Information

Affiliation: Professor, Institute of Social Science, The University of Tokyo

Researcher number: 80768896
ORCID iD: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9982-4784
J-GLOBAL ID: 202101018714975048
researchmap Member ID: R000030958

Research Interests

Research Areas

Humanities & social sciences / Politics /

Research History

Mar, 2019 - Present

Professor, Institute of Social Science, The University of Tokyo
Jun, 2015 - Mar, 2018

Associate Professor, Institute of Social Science, The University of Tokyo
Aug, 2008 - May, 2015

Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Michigan
Aug, 2006 - Jul, 2008

Lecturer, Division of International, Comparative, and Area Studies, Stanford University
Aug, 2005 - Jul, 2006

Postdoctoral Fellow, Program on U.S.-Japan Relations, Harvard University

Education

Sep, 1999 - Jul, 2005

Department of Political Science, Stanford University
Sep, 1995 - Jun, 1999

School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University

Committee Memberships

Jul, 2025 - Present

Executive Committee, International Political Science Association
Oct, 2024 - Present

Director, Japanese Political Science Association
Apr, 2021 - Present

Editor-in-Chief, Social Science Japan Journal
Oct, 2022 - Sep, 2024

Directorate Secretary, Japanese Political Science Association
Apr, 2020 - Sep, 2024

Chair, Japan Political Studies Group, American Political Science Association
Apr, 2020 - Mar, 2024

Board Member, UTokyo Center for Contemporary Japanese Studies

Awards

2023

44th Ishiban Tanzan Book Award, The Universality and Originality of the Japanese Constitution in Quantitative Perspective, The Ishibashi Tanzan Memorial Foundation

Kenneth Mori McElwain
Nov, 2022

34th Asia-Pacific Award Special Prize, The Universality and Originality of the Japanese Constitution in Quantitative Perspective, The Asian Affairs Research Council

Kenneth Mori McElwain
2017

University of Tokyo Excellent Researcher Award

Kenneth Mori McElwain

Major Books and Other Publications

Japan Decides 2024: The Japanese General Election

Kenneth M. McElwain, Robert J. Pekkanen, Daniel M. Smith (Role: Joint editor)

Nov 23, 2025 (ISBN: 3031987969) Peer-reviewed
Pandemics and Social Science: Insights from Post-COVID Japan

Susumu Cato, Ryuichi Tanaka, Kenneth Mori McElwain (Role: Joint editor)

Feb, 2024 (ISBN: 9784326303373)
The Universality and Originality of the Japanese Constitution in Quantitative Perspective

McElwain, Kenneth Mori

Jun, 2022 (ISBN: 9784805111215)

Papers

Asymmetric effects of economic news: a quasi-experimental approach

Tomoko Matsumoto, Kenneth Mori McElwain

Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties, 1-24, Apr 16, 2026 Peer-reviewedCorresponding author
Exploring the ‘Ideal Constitution’ through Causal Inference: What the Data Reveal about the Citizen-Constitution Gap

McElwain, Kenneth Mori

2025(12) 21-25, Dec, 2025 InvitedLead author
IO Endorsements, Perceived Alignment, and Public Support for Unpopular Policies

Saki Kuzushima, Itsuki Umeyama, Kenneth Mori McElwain, Yuki Shiraito

International Studies Quarterly, 69(4) 1-16, Sep 17, 2025 Peer-reviewed
Democracy by Design? Voter Preferences for Institutional Coherence in Japan

Kenneth Mori McElwain

Japanese Journal of Electoral Studies, 41(1) 16-36, 2025 Invited
Constitutional design preferences: An experimental approach

Shusei Eshima, Kenneth Mori McElwain, Ai Takahashi, Christian G Winkler

International Journal of Constitutional Law, 22(3) 680-709, Nov 29, 2024 Peer-reviewed
Generational differences in economic perceptions

Tomoko Matsumoto, Kenneth Mori McElwain, Kensuke Okada, Junko Kato

Electoral Studies, 91 102830-102830, Oct, 2024 Peer-reviewed
Public preferences for international law compliance: Respecting legal obligations or conforming to common practices?

Saki Kuzushima, Kenneth Mori McElwain, Yuki Shiraito

The Review of International Organizations, 19(1) 63-93, May 9, 2024 Peer-reviewed
Narrative Premiums in Policy Persuasion

Keisuke Kawata, Kenneth Mori McElwain, Masaki Nakabayashi

Political Psychology, 45(2) 383-405, Sep 22, 2023 Peer-reviewed
Explaining Public Support for Gender Quotas: Sexism, Representational Quality, and State Intervention in Japan

Mari Miura, Kenneth Mori McElwain, Tomoki Kaneko

Politics & Gender, 19(3) 781-805, Sep, 2023 Peer-reviewed
The clash of traditional values: opposition to female monarchs

Guoer Liu, Kenneth Mori McElwain, Yuki Shiraito

EUROPEAN POLITICAL SCIENCE REVIEW, 15(2) 291-310, Oct, 2022 Peer-reviewed
Mobile health technology as a solution to self-control problems: The behavioral impact of COVID-19 contact tracing apps in Japan

Masahiro Shoji, Susumu Cato, Asei Ito, Takashi Iida, Kenji Ishida, Hiroto Katsumata, Kenneth Mori McElwain

Social Science and Medicine, 306 115142-115142, Aug, 2022 Peer-reviewed
Vaccination and altruism under the COVID-19 pandemic

Susumu Cato, Takashi Iida, Kenji Ishida, Asei Ito, Hiroto Katsumata, Kenneth Mori McElwain, Masahiro Shoji

Public Health in Practice, 3 100225-100225, Jun, 2022 Peer-reviewed
ISS Panel Survey on the COVID-19 Pandemic（2020）: Overview and Descriptive Analysis

IIDA Takashi, ISHIDA Kenji, ITO Asei, KATSUMATA Hiroto, CATO Susumu, SHOJI Masahiro, MCELWAIN Kenneth Mori

THE JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCE, 73(2) 95-125, Mar 8, 2022
Variations in Early-Stage Responses to Pandemics: Survey Evidence from the COVID-19 Pandemic in Japan.

Masahiro Shoji, Susumu Cato, Takashi Iida, Kenji Ishida, Asei Ito, Kenneth Mori McElwain

Economics of disasters and climate change, 1-24, Nov 29, 2021 Peer-reviewed
Prosociality and the Uptake of COVID-19 Contact Tracing Apps: Survey Analysis of Intergenerational Differences in Japan

Masahiro Shoji, Asei Ito, Susumu Cato, Takashi Iida, Kenji Ishida, Hiroto Katsumata, Kenneth Mori McElwain

JMIR MHEALTH AND UHEALTH, 9(8), Aug, 2021 Peer-reviewed
The proposer or the proposal? An experimental analysis of constitutional beliefs

Kenneth Mori McElwain, Shusei Eshima, Christian G. Winkler

JAPANESE JOURNAL OF POLITICAL SCIENCE, 22(1) 15-39, Mar, 2021 Peer-reviewed
The bright and dark sides of social media usage during the COVID-19 pandemic: Survey evidence from Japan

Susumu Cato, Takashi Iida, Kenji Ishida, Asei Ito, Hiroto Katsumata, Kenneth Mori McElwain, Masahiro Shoji

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DISASTER RISK REDUCTION, 54, Feb, 2021 Peer-reviewed
Social media infodemics and social distancing under the COVID-19 pandemic: public good provisions under uncertainty

Susumu Cato, Takashi Iida, Kenji Ishida, Asei Ito, Hiroto Katsumata, Kenneth Mori McElwain, Masahiro Shoji

GLOBAL HEALTH ACTION, 14(1), Jan, 2021 Peer-reviewed
When candidates are more polarised than voters: constitutional revision in Japan

Kenneth Mori McElwain

EUROPEAN POLITICAL SCIENCE, 19(4) 528-539, Dec, 2020 Peer-reviewed
Social distancing as a public good under the COVID-19 pandemic

S. Cato, T. Iida, K. Ishida, A. Ito, K. M. McElwain, M. Shoji

Public Health, 188 51-53, Nov 1, 2020 Peer-reviewed

Research Projects

政治制度変革をめぐる有権者と統治エリート：行動論と過程論からの分析

科学研究費助成事業基盤研究(B), 基盤研究(B), 日本学術振興会, Apr, 2023 - Mar, 2027

MCELWAIN KENNETH
The Japanese Database of Populism Studies: New Insights and Contributions

Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research, Fund for the Promotion of Joint International Research (Fostering Joint International Research (B)), Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Oct, 2020 - Mar, 2025
憲法改正における多数派形成の多様性に関する国際比較研究

科学研究費助成事業, 基盤研究(B), 日本学術振興会, Apr, 2020 - Mar, 2023

待鳥聡史, 砂原庸介, 竹中治堅, 浅羽祐樹, MCELWAIN KENNETH
Cognition and preference of the job and social securities: A panelized cognition and conjoint experiment

Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research, Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A), Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Apr, 2018 - Mar, 2023
Hurdles of Women's Political Participation: Surveys of Diet Members and Party Officials

Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research, Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B), Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Apr, 2018 - Mar, 2021
The Political Economy of Deflation: Prices, Public Opinion, and Governance

Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research, Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B), Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Apr, 2017 - Mar, 2021

MCELWAIN KENNETH
Developing an Archive Infrastructure for Political Data

Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research, Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A), Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Apr, 2017 - Mar, 2020

Kobayashi Yoshiaki
Understanding Welfare Politics in Northeast Asia with Multiple Cleavages

Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research, Grant-in-Aid for JSPS Fellows, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Nov, 2016 - Mar, 2019
Japanese Electoral Studies 2012-2016

Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research, Grant-in-Aid for Specially Promoted Research, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, 2012 - 2016

KOBAYASHI Yoshiaki, HIRANO Hiroshi, TANIGUSHI Masaki, YAMADA Masahiro, NATORI Ryota, IIDA Takeshi, ONO Yoshikuni, MCELWAIN Kenneth, MATSUBAYASHI Tetsuya, TSUKIYAMA Hiroki

Profile Information

Research Interests

Research Areas

Research History

Education

Committee Memberships

Awards

Major Books and Other Publications

Papers

Research Projects

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