Robert Pekkanen

Robert J. Pekkanen is Professor at the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, Adjunct Professor of Political Science, and Adjunct Professor of Sociology at the University of Washington. He received his Ph.D. in political science from Harvard University in 2002. His research interests lie in electoral systems, political parties and civil society. He has published articles in political science journals such as The American Political Science Review, The British Journal of Political Science, and Comparative Political Studies, as well Asian studies journals includingThe Journal of Asian Studies and The Journal of Japanese Studies. He has published seven books in English on American nonprofit advocacy, Japanese civil society, and Japanese elections and political parties, and there are translations or Japanese versions of three of his books. His first book, Japan’s Dual Civil Society: Members without Advocates (Stanford: 2006) won the Masayoshi Ohira Prize in 2008 and also an award from the Japanese Nonprofit Research Association (JANPORA) in 2007.  The Japan Times also featured it as one of the “Best Asia Books” of 2006.  A Japanese translation appeared in 2008. Another book, The Rise and Fall of Japan’s LDP: Political Party Organizations as Historical Institutions, (Cornell: 2010; co-authored with Ellis S. Krauss), has earned praise in a wide range of reviews. Pekkanen has co-edited two books on Japanese elections, most recently Japan Decides 2014 about the December 2014 Japanese general election. Pekkanen’s research has been supported by the Mellon Foundation, Social Science Research Council, and the National Science Foundation, among others.