Masaaki Higashijima

Masaaki Higashijima is an Associate Professor of Political Science in the Graduate School of Information Sciences at Tohoku University and Visiting Research Scholar in the Center for Political Studies at the University of Michigan. Previously, he was Post-Doctoral Max Weber Fellow at European University Institute and Assistant Professor at Waseda University in Tokyo. His research interests include comparative political economy, elections, autocratic politics, democratization, ethnic politics, civil conflict, and Central Asia. His articles appeared in British Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics, Political Behavior, Studies in Comparative International Development, and World Development. He is the recipient of the inaugural EIP-IDEA Award, given by the Electoral Integrity Project and the International IDEA. His research was funded by numerous grants such as those of the US National Science Foundation, Fulbright Commission, and Suntory Foundation. He earned a Ph.D. in Political Science at Michigan State University.