obert J. Pekkanen is Professor at the University of Washington, USA. He has published nine books on politics, most recently co-editing The Oxford Handbook of Electoral Systems (2018), as well as articles in the American Political Science Review, the British Journal of Political Science and Comparative Political Studies.

Steven R. Reed is Professor at Chuo University, Tokyo, Japan. He has recently published Political Corruption and Scandals in Japan (with Matthew M. Carlson, 2018). He has published in the British Journal of Political Science and the American Journal of Political Science as well as numerous other academic journals.

Ethan Scheiner is Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Davis, USA. He is the author of Democracy Without Competition in Japan: Opposition Failure in a One-Party Dominant State (2005) and Electoral Systems and Political Context:How the Effects of Rules Vary across New and Established Democracies (with Robert G. Moser, 2012), as well as a variety of journal articles.

Daniel M. Smith is Associate Professor of Government at Harvard University, USA. He is the author of Dynasties and Democracy: The Inherited Incumbency Advantage in Japan (2018) and numerous articles and book chapters on political parties and elections.