Dominic Sachsenmaier, Ph.D. (1999) in History/Sinology, University of Freiburg/Germany, is Research Scholar at Harvard University. He has published on History and Sino-Western Relations. Currently he is working on transculturally comparative 20th century history.

Shmuel N. Eisenstadt, Ph.D. (1947) at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, is Professor Emeritus at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute. His academic work spans several decades, and includes influential research on Jewish, Japanese, and European culture and civilizations, the dynamics of democratic society, and the social effects of changes brought about by revolution, modernization, and the large-scale movement of populations. He received many prizes and is member of many Academy of Sciences all over the world. He was (co)editor of Democracy and Modernity (Brill, 1992) and Reflections on Multiple Modernities (Brill, 2002).

Jens Riedel, M.A., studied political science and economics in Tübingen and New York. He is a Manager with the Boston Consulting Group focussing on strategy and organization/human resources projects. Previously, he worked for DaimlerBenz in Germany, the US and China.