The Kellam "Zemi"

The focus of my "zemi" is comparative politics of developing countries. We also emphasize research design and empirical analysis. 

For the English-based Degree Programs at SPSE, the zemi is listed as Advanced Seminar 1 to 4 (plus thesis). My zemi is organized as follows:

• The first year of the Advanced Seminar (1 and 2) aims to develop students’ understanding of comparative politics, and to expand students’ knowledge about politics around the globe.

• The second year of the Advanced Seminar (3 and 4) focuses on students’ individual research in comparative politics on a topic of their own choosing.  While the seminar prepares students for the thesis, it is not a requirement. Typically the thesis is written concurrently with Advanced Seminar 4. 

Advanced Seminar 2024-2025

In June 2019 we had a Bowling Showdown with the Kurizaki Zemi. It was close, but the Kellam Zemi won!

Some thesis topics from the zemi include:

• Malapportionment and Agricultural Support in OECD Countries

• Work-Life Balance: Factors that influence the women’s labor-force participation rates of China, Japan and South Korea

• The Lack of a Green Party in Japan: An Evaluation of Institutional and Cultural Hypotheses

• The Weak Left Wing of  Postwar East Asian Democracies

• Why Do Some Imposed Democracies Survive While Others Do Not? 

• Assessing Authoritarian Responsiveness — Evidence from China’s Tax Policy

• Micro-Financing Peace

• Diversionary Trade War: The Effect of Domestic Political Conditions 

• The Determinants of Democracy in Southeast Asia

• Why do some OECD countries have better Green Economy Performance than other OECD countries?

• Overseas Chinese in South East Asia and Trade Relations with China

• Internet Shutdowns and Protest Success

• Learning English in Japan: A Study Leading up to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics 

• When Are Social Movement Successful: A Comparative Study of Student Movements in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Japan

• Protester Violence: A Quantitative Analysis from 1990 to 2018

• A New Political Reality? Determining the Effects of Twitter Fame on the Legislative Success of U.S. Senators

• The Shrinking Middle Class, Polarization, and the Global Retreat in Democracy

• Evaluating Gender Quotas as a Mechanism for Greater Welfare

• The Intrinsic Value of ODA: An Analysis of Japanese ODA and Its Impact on Public Perception of Japan Held by Recipient Countries in Asia

• Civil Society and Government Surveillance during the COVID-19 Pandemic

• Public Health Care in Post-Communist Countries

• Female Labor Force in the BRICS Countries

• The Effect of Post-Materialism and Direct Democracy on the Legalization of Marijuana

• The Price of Democracy: Taxation and the Quality of Democracy

• The Stability of New Regimes: Coming to Power and Staying in Power

• Socially Excluded Immigrants and Crime

• Water Resource Allocation and Globalization

Some of the students have gone on to graduate school:

Graduate Program in Environmental Sciences at the University of Tokyo (JAPAN), the School of Advanced International Studies at John Hopkins University (USA), MSc  in Public Policy at University College London (UK), MA in Sociology at National Tsing Hua University (TAIWAN), MSc International Development and Humanitarian Emergencies at the London School of Economics and Political Science (UK), MA in Political Science at the Graduate School of Political Science of Waseda University (JAPAN), MA in Management at the Haskayne School of Business at the University of Calgary (CANADA), Columbia University's School of  International and Public Affairs (USA),  ...

Other students obtain corporate jobs upon graduation: 

(for which I take no credit)

Kantar Japan Inc., Deloitte Advisory Hong Kong, Rakuten, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs Singapore, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust Bank, AlphaSights, PwC Consulting, Bloomberg, HSBC, Plenum China, Deloitte Japanese Service Group in Shanghai, ...