I spoke with @thedispatchmedia.bsky.social for this story on why U.S. politicians tend to be older than those in other democracies thedispatch.com/newsletter/m...

Why Are American Politicians So Old?

Plus: Democratic socialists sweep New York’s House primaries, the White House escalates sanctions on Cuba, and an extreme weather conference is canceled due to extreme weather.

thedispatch.com

A @usnews.com story yesterday, "U.S. Lawmakers Are Oldest of Any Democracy. Here's Why," cited my paper with Aksel Sundström and Daniel Stockemer (both quoted) on youth representation and democratic legitimacy. Paper: www.charlesmcclean.com/s/Youth-Repr... www.usnews.com/news/best-co...

Excited to share my new article with Don Lee @electoralstudies.bsky.social Using a conjoint experiment during an electoral reform debate in Korea, we show that women and young people favor strengthening representation—but not at any cost to accountability. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Happy to share my paper w/ Aksel Sundström & Daniel Stockemer has won the SPPQ Best Paper Award from @apsa.bsky.social's SPP section We find including younger representatives in decision-making bodies can boost perceptions of fairness & institutional trust www.charlesmcclean.com/s/Youth-Repr...

Thank you to Jim Raymo, the Global Japan Lab, and @princetonpolitics.bsky.social for hosting me yesterday at @princeton.edu to present new research with @strauszm.bsky.social on population aging and democratic representation. Really appreciated the great conversation and thoughtful comments.

New article time with @clsturtz.bsky.social @cmcclean.bsky.social @tomphuongle.bsky.social and other cool but not on bluesky people.

Demographic decline as an idiom of distress: Rethinking gender (In)equality in Japan

The world faces overlapping crises of global scale and consequence. Given limited attention and capacity, which crises garner attention and framing as important? Which are neglected in ways reflect...

tandfonline.com

I was quoted in @thedispatchmedia.bsky.social on Takaichi’s unusually strong support among younger voters — and what that meant for the LDP going into Japan’s snap election thedispatch.com/newsletter/m...

Takaichi’s Historic Supermajority

At least 31 killed in Islamabad bombing, updates on the U.S.-Iran talks, and please don’t juggle fire while on a unicycle in public.

thedispatch.com

This morning, I joined @kristigovella.bsky.social and Nick Szechenyi at @japan.csis.org to discuss the outcome of Japan's snap election. The video is now posted if you'd like to watch: www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF1F...

Inside Japan’s High-Stakes Snap Election

YouTube video by Center for Strategic & International Studies

youtube.com

Takaichi's snap election gamble has clearly paid off. Snap elections tend to benefit incumbents — especially when opposition parties are caught off guard and the campaign period is particularly short. I've written about this dynamic before: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

The scale of the LDP’s victory is hard to overstate: • 316/465 seats (68%) — biggest win in party history • Swept 31 of 47 prefectures • With Ishin: 352 seats (76%), swept 33 prefectures Results: www.asahi.com/senkyo/shuin...

Reminder: Join this online discussion tomorrow morning @japan.csis.org with @kristigovella.bsky.social (2016-17), @cmcclean.bsky.social (2020-21), & Nicholas Szechenyi to make sense of Sunday's election outcome and ways forward for Japan. More info: bit.ly/45HEAPT.

Inside Japan’s High-Stakes Snap Election | CSIS Events

The CSIS Japan Chair analyzes the results of Japan’s February 8 snap election and its impact on Japanese politics and foreign policy.

bit.ly

CSIS Japan Chair@japan.csis.org · 6mo ago

📢 Save the Date: Feb 9 at 8:00 - 9:00 am EST The CSIS Japan Chair invites you to join a virtual discussion on Japan's February 8 general election results featuring @kristigovella.bsky.social, @cmcclean.bsky.social, & Nicholas Szechenyi. Click here for more information: https://bit.ly/45HEAPT

Reminder: there's still time to apply for the Japan Conference for Social Scientists @yalemacmillan.bsky.social Deadline: Feb. 13 Submission link below ⬇️

Charles McClean@cmcclean.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Anna Yorozuya and I are delighted to share that we're hosting the Japan Conference for Social Scientists on May 29-30 @yalemacmillan.bsky.social CEAS. 🗓️ Apply by Feb. 13: macmillan.yale.edu/eastasia/eve...

Join us Feb 9 for a virtual discussion with experts @kristigovella.bsky.social, @cmcclean.bsky.social, & Nick Szechenyi on the outcome of Japan's general election and how it will impact the future direction of Japanese domestic politics and foreign policy. 🗓️ Register here: https://bit.ly/45HEAPT

📢 Save the Date: Feb 9 at 8:00 - 9:00 am EST The CSIS Japan Chair invites you to join a virtual discussion on Japan's February 8 general election results featuring @kristigovella.bsky.social, @cmcclean.bsky.social, & Nicholas Szechenyi. Click here for more information: https://bit.ly/45HEAPT

The @csis.org Japan Chair program is pleased to welcome @cmcclean.bsky.social as a Non-resident Adjunct Fellow. Dr. McClean is an assistant professor at @yale.edu with expertise in Japanese domestic politics, the politics of age, and youth political representation: https://bit.ly/3ZJxOWh

A great piece by my colleague Grace Kao (Sociology) on K-pop, soft power, and Japan-Korea diplomacy—sparked by the now-famous drum duet between Prime Minister Takaichi and President Lee. Glad to be quoted. www.koreaherald.com/article/1065...

[Grace Kao] Polyrhythmic diplomacy of K-pop in Korea-Japan ties

A week ago, South Korea’s President Lee Jae Myung and Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi drummed to “Golden” from “KPop Demon Hunters” and BTS’ 2020 smash si

koreaherald.com

Anna Yorozuya and I are delighted to share that we're hosting the Japan Conference for Social Scientists on May 29-30 @yalemacmillan.bsky.social CEAS. 🗓️ Apply by Feb. 13: macmillan.yale.edu/eastasia/eve...

At 34, Zohran Mamdani is New York's youngest mayor in over a century. Over 2 million people voted—the most since 1969—fueled in part by strong youth turnout. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/04/n...

New York City Has Not Elected a Mayor This Young in More Than a Century

nytimes.com

As Japan's first female prime minister, Takaichi has appointed Katayama as the first female finance minister. Yet only two cabinet members are women—unchanged from Ishiba's outgoing cabinet. Not quite the "Nordic levels" of women's representation that Takaichi campaigned on...

I spoke with @thedispatchmedia.bsky.social for this story on Takaichi, which also features great insights from Christina Davis @harvardusjapan.bsky.social, @mireyasolis.bsky.social, @kristigovella.bsky.social, and @sheilasmithcfr.bsky.social thedispatch.com/newsletter/m...

Japan’s Iron Lady

Sanae Takaichi is set to inherit a Japan reshaped by inflation, weak growth, and political turnover.

thedispatch.com

Director Christina Davis, Charles McClean @cmcclean.bsky.social (2020-21), Kristi Govella @kristigovella.bsky.social (2017-18), and Sheila Smith @sheilasmithcfr.bsky.social (Distinguished Visitor, 2013-14) are quoted in The Dispatch article, "Japan's Iron Lady." tinyurl.com/yf3vmjpt

Japan’s Iron Lady

Sanae Takaichi is set to inherit a Japan reshaped by inflation, weak growth, and political turnover.

tinyurl.com

Yesterday, we were delighted to welcome James Raymo (Princeton) to @yale.edu to kick off two series: - Population Studies Workshop @ispsyale.bsky.social - Japan as Future @yalemacmillan.bsky.social His talk focused on divorce, remarriage, and fertility in #Japan isps.yale.edu/events/2025/...

With Ishiba resigning, Japan is set to have its 4th new PM in 5 years. Notably, his minority coalition hasn't been unusually short by comparative standards—at 343 days so far, it's longer than the 327-day average in Europe (per our study). link.springer.com/chapter/10.1...

Minority Governments Revisited

Despite decades of scholarship on coalition bargaining in parliamentary democracies, minority governments remain a puzzle. From the 1970s on, cross-national empirical scholarship has shown minority go...

link.springer.com

Excited to be co-organizing the new @ispsyale.bsky.social Population Studies Workshop with @dremmazang.bsky.social. We've got a fantastic lineup for the year—take a look!

Emma Zang@dremmazang.bsky.social · 11mo ago

The Yale Population Studies Workshop is live! Check out our fall lineup here: isps.yale.edu/population-s... Speakers span sociology, economics, medicine, and political science. Both Yale and non-Yale folks are welcome to sign up for the email listserv!

Japan elected a record 42 women to the Upper House—a step forward for gender representation. But our article shows how visible progress in some areas can coexist with deeper patterns of inequality. @takadanobaba.bsky.social, @clsturtz.bsky.social, Charles Crabtree academic.oup.com/ssjj/article...

Selective development goals: examining Japan’s SDG implementation gaps

Abstract. In this article, we consider how efforts by the Japanese government and private sector to make the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals

academic.oup.com

Newly published, this paper by Paul Christensen, Cindi SturtzSreetharan, Charles Crabtree and Charles McClean looks at the implementation of the SDGs in Japan: academic.oup.com/ssjj/article...

Selective development goals: examining Japan’s SDG implementation gaps

Abstract. In this article, we consider how efforts by the Japanese government and private sector to make the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals

academic.oup.com

I wrote an article on the absurdity of Japan's use of the SDGs with @clsturtz.bsky.social, @cmcclean.bsky.social, and Charles Crabtree. We think it's pretty good... Selective development goals: examining Japan’s SDG implementation gaps url: academic.oup.com/ssjj/article...

Excited to join Yale Young Global Scholars again this year (@yale.edu)! I’ll be giving three talks on youth representation to 450 high school students from over 60 countries. Looking forward to hearing whether they’d ever consider running for office.

The Experimental Research section of the American Political Science Association (@experimentsapsa.bsky.social) invites research proposals from post-prospectus PhD students for its Experimental Research Early-Career Fellowship program. Share this post! @apsa.bsky.social, @poscresearch.bsky.social

Looking forward to hosting @cmcclean.bsky.social‬ next week. Join us and hear why younger politicians are so rare in countries like Japan and how this shortage shapes democracy and social policy 👇

Charles McClean@cmcclean.bsky.social · last yr.

Excited to visit @fsi.stanford.edu @aparc.stanford.edu on Monday to discuss my book project on youth representation and its implications for policymaking and democracy. aparc.fsi.stanford.edu/events/silve...