Rate My Professor Ayako Toyama

Ayako Toyama is an Associate Professor in the Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Tsukuba, where she has served since 2019. She also holds the position of Affiliated Associate Professor at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University. She earned her Ph.D. in Area Studies from Kyoto University in 2013, following studies in the Graduate School of Asian and African Area Studies. Her research focuses on Thai politics and comparative politics, with particular emphasis on constitutional reform and democratization, the judicialization of politics, and anti-corruption efforts in emerging countries.

Throughout her career, Toyama has held positions including JSPS Postdoctoral Fellow and various research roles at Kyoto University. She received the 19th Southeast Asian History Society Award in 2021 for her book on democratization and constitutional reform in Thailand. She has authored or contributed to numerous publications, including the English edition of her monograph Democratization and Constitutional Reform in Thailand: Has Constitutionalism Saved Democracy? (Trans Pacific Press, 2023) and works on authoritarian politics and governance in Southeast Asia. Toyama is a member of several academic societies, including the Japanese Political Science Association and the Japan Association for Asian Studies.