{"id":5611,"date":"2025-03-12T01:36:03","date_gmt":"2025-03-12T01:36:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/japan\/?p=5611"},"modified":"2025-11-07T22:38:58","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T22:38:58","slug":"griffith-and-patricia-way-lecture-2025-kenneth-mori-mcelwain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/japan\/news\/griffith-and-patricia-way-lecture-2025-kenneth-mori-mcelwain\/","title":{"rendered":"APR 22 &#8211; Griffith and Patricia Way Lecture 2025: Kenneth Mori McElwain"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Join us on <strong>Tuesday, April 22, 2025<\/strong> at 5:30 PM in Kane Hall 225 for a special evening lecture:<\/p>\n<h2>Consolidating Constitutional Legitimacy in Japan: Concepts, Metrics, and Pathways Forward<\/h2>\n<h3>Kenneth Mori McElwain, University of Tokyo and Columbia University<\/h3>\n<p>Amidst global challenges to established institutions, rights, and norms, the role of constitutions in preserving democratic governance has become ever more vital. Japan offers a compelling case: its constitution, the world\u2019s oldest unamended national charter, faces growing elite-driven calls for fundamental revision. However, public support for these changes remains uncertain, and reforms lacking legitimacy risk weakening the constitution\u2019s ability to constrain government overreach. This talk develops a framework for understanding and assessing constitutional legitimacy.<\/p>\n<p>The Jackson School Japan Studies Program is home to the Griffith and Patricia Way Lecture series. Since its establishment in 2006 in honor of the Ways, this series has featured distinguished scholars in the field of Japan Studies in areas which include history, literature, political science, economics, and art. You can make a gift to this lecture series at\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washington.edu\/giving\/make-a-gift\/?source_typ=2&amp;source=EJQ\"><strong>UW Giving.<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<strong>Search for \u2018<em>Way<\/em>\u2018 in the Search Funds field at the top of the page.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Join us on Tuesday, April 22, 2025 at 5:30 PM in Kane Hall 225 for a special evening lecture: Consolidating Constitutional Legitimacy in Japan: Concepts, Metrics, and Pathways Forward Kenneth Mori McElwain, University of Tokyo and Columbia University Amidst global challenges to established institutions, rights, and norms, the role of constitutions in preserving democratic governance<\/p>\n<div><a class=\"more\" href=\"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/japan\/news\/griffith-and-patricia-way-lecture-2025-kenneth-mori-mcelwain\/\">Read more<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":5613,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[19,124,82,121],"class_list":["post-5611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-japan","tag-uw-japan","tag-uw-japan-events","tag-way-lecture","region-east-asia","region-international","region-japan","region-u-s-japan","research-theme-events","research-theme-japan","research-theme-japan-events","research-theme-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>APR 22 - Griffith and Patricia Way Lecture 2025: Kenneth Mori McElwain - UW Center for Japanese Studies<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/japan\/news\/griffith-and-patricia-way-lecture-2025-kenneth-mori-mcelwain\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"APR 22 - Griffith and Patricia Way Lecture 2025: Kenneth Mori McElwain - UW Center for Japanese Studies\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Join us on Tuesday, April 22, 2025 at 5:30 PM in Kane Hall 225 for a special evening lecture: Consolidating Constitutional Legitimacy in Japan: Concepts, Metrics, and Pathways Forward Kenneth Mori McElwain, University of Tokyo and Columbia University Amidst global challenges to established institutions, rights, and norms, the role of constitutions in preserving democratic governance\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/japan\/news\/griffith-and-patricia-way-lecture-2025-kenneth-mori-mcelwain\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"UW Center for Japanese Studies\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-03-12T01:36:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-11-07T22:38:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/japan\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2025\/03\/Kenneth-Mori-McElwain.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"544\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ellen E. 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