Dr. Zachary Elkins

Biography

Zachary Elkins is a Professor in the Department of Government at the University of Texas at Austin. His research focuses on national constitutions, democracy, institutional reform, research methods, and national identity, with an emphasis on cases from Latin America. He is the author of the book "The Endurance of National Constitutions" (2009), which explores the factors that lead to the survival of national constitutions. Currently, he is completing a manuscript titled "Designed Diffusion: Constitutional Reform in Developing Democracies", which examines the design diffusion of democratic institutions. Elkins has published numerous articles and book chapters and has created online media projects on policy-making and constitutional politics. He co-directs the Comparative Constitutions Project, an NSF-funded initiative aimed at understanding the causes and consequences of constitutional choices, and his work is aimed at providing resources for analysis for constitutional drafters in new democracies.

Research Interests

Experience