Chieko Kitagawa Otsuru is professor of American politics and international politics at Faculty of Law of Kansai University, located in Osaka, Japan. She has written on various aspects of American politics and U.S. foreign policies, as well as led several joint projects, focusing on the function of American democracy. Throughout her academic career, her interests have rested on grassroots activists, and she has tried to connect her works with the activities on the ground.

Chieko is at the Centennial Center from October 2007 to September 2008 on a research leave from her university. While at the Center her main research theme is the consensus formation by Congress in the time of polarized politics. More than one factor has caused the current political situation, and some of them are, by themselves, not contrary to democratic decision making. For example, an explicit party government can be more accountable than an ambiguous inter-party coalition.

As numerous congressional scholars have pointed out, however, Congress has weakened its major function, namely deliberation, due to the current polarization. As the minority is excluded from the meaningful deliberation, the policy outcome will be less likely to receive lasting support from the public. Such deficiency of exclusive process is well recognized, but still the most recent Congress continues to limit meaningful deliberation.

Chieko's research is based on the premise that deliberation is deprived not just through the internal process of Congress, but also by the constituency relations on one hand, and presidential relations on the other hand. After examining the committee and floor records on specific bills, she plans to conduct extensive interviews towards the end of her stay. This research constitutes a part of her book project on democratizing decision making in U.S. Congress.

Besides working on her research topic, she finds it quite exciting to follow the development of supposedly “history-making” American presidential elections. She enjoys writing and speaking about how American electoral democracy works toward the Japanese audience.