Masaaki Higashijima

Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Tokyo

Masaaki Higashijima is an associate professor of comparative politics at the Institute of Social Science, University of Tokyo. He is currently affiliated with the Ellison Center for Russian, East European, and Central Asian Studies at the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington. Previously, he taught and conducted research at Tohoku University, Waseda University, the European University Institute, the American University of Central Asia, and the University of Michigan. He earned a Ph.D. in Political Science from Michigan State University. His research interests include comparative political economy, autocratic politics, regime change, and Central Asia. He published his first book, The Dictator’s Dilemma at the Ballot Box: Electoral Manipulation, Economic Maneuvering, and Political Order in Autocracies (University of Michigan Press, 2022), which won the IDE-JETRO Award for Studies of Developing Countries and the Ed A Hewett Book Prize (Honorable Mention). His work has also appeared in premier journals such as British Journal of Political Science, Comparative Political Studies, Democratization, Government and Opposition, International Studies Quarterly, Public Opinion Quarterly, Journal of Politics, and World Development, among others.