Robert Pekkanen

Contact
- pekkanen@uw.edu
- (206) 685 1527
- Thomson Hall 329
- http://robertpekkanen.com
About
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, interview methods, and nonprofits or 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 including The Journal of Asian Studies and The Journal of Japanese Studies. He has published twelve books in English on electoral systems, American nonprofit advocacy, Japanese civil society, and Japanese elections and political parties, and there are translations or Japanese versions of two 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. A co-authored article in the Social Science Japan Journal won the 2014 ISS/ Oxford Prize for Modern Japanese Studies, awarded by the Institute of Social Science of the University of Tokyo and Oxford University Press. Pekkanen has co-edited three books on Japanese elections, most recently Japan Decides 2017 about the October 2017 Japanese general election. Pekkanen also co-edited The Oxford Handbook of Electoral Systems and The Oxford Handbook of Japanese Politics. He is coauthor of Party Personnel Strategies: Electoral Systems and Parliamentary Committee Assignments (Oxford, 2021). Pekkanen’s research has been supported by the Mellon Foundation, Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission, Social Science Research Council, the National Endowment of the Humanities, and the National Science Foundation, among others.
Education
- Harvard University, Ph.D. Political Science, 2002
Selected Courses
Selected Publications
The Oxford Handbook of Japanese Politics
Publication type:
Book
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
Publication Date:
2022
Party Personnel Strategies -Electoral Systems and Parliamentary Committee Assignments
Publication type:
Book
Co-Author(s):
Matthew S Shugart, Matthew E Bergman, Cory L. Struthers, and Ellis S Krauss
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
Publication Date:
2021
The Oxford Handbook of Electoral Systems
Publication type:
Book
Co-Editor(s):
Erik S. Herron and Matthew S. Shugart
Publisher:
Oxford Handbooks
Publication Date:
2018
Japan Decides 2017 -The Japanese General Election
Publication type:
Book
Co-Editor(s):
Steven R. Reed, Ethan Scheiner
Publisher:
Palgrave Macmillan
Publication Date:
2018
Japan Decides 2014 -The Japanese General Election
Publication type:
Book
Co-Editor(s):
Steven R. Reed, Ethan Scheiner
Publisher:
Palgrave Macmillan
Publication Date:
2016
Nonprofits and Advocacy -Engaging Community and Government in an Era of Retrenchment
Publication type:
Book
Co-Editor(s):
Steven Rathgeb Smith, and Yutaka Tsujinaka
Publisher:
Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication Date:
2014
Neighborhood Associations and Local Governance in Japan
Publication type:
Book
Co-Author(s):
Yutaka Tsujinaka, Hidehiro Yamamoto
Publisher:
Routledge
Publication Date:
2014
The Logic of Ministerial Selection -Electoral System and Cabinet Appointments in Japan
Publication type:
Article
Co-Author(s):
Benjamin Nyblade, Ellis S. Krauss
Published in:
Social Science Japan Journal
Publication Date:
2013
Japan Decides 2012 -The Japanese General Election
Publication type:
Book
Co-Editor(s):
Steven R. Reed, Ethan Scheiner
Publisher:
Palgrave Macmillan
Publication Date:
2013
How to Report Interview Data
Publication type:
Book Chapter
Co-Author(s):
Erik Bleich
Published in:
Interview Research in Political Science Edited by Layna Mosley
Publication Date:
2013
The Rise and Fall of Japan’s LDP -Political Party Organizations as Historical Institutions
Publication type:
Book
Co-Author(s):
Ellis S. Krauss
Publisher:
Cornell University Press
Publication Date:
2011
Neighborhood Associations and Local Governance in Japan -(Japanese Language Edition)
Publication type:
Book
Co-Author(s):
Yutaka Tsujinaka, Hidehiro Yamamoto
Publication Date:
2009
Local Organizations and Urban Governance in East and Southeast Asia -Straddling state and society
Publication type:
Book
Co-Editor(s):
Benjamin L. Read
Publisher:
Routledge
Publication Date:
2009
Japan’s Dual Civil Society -Members Without Advocates (Japanese Language Edition)
Publication type:
Book
Publication Date:
2008
Japan’s Dual Civil Society -Members Without Advocates
Publication type:
Book
Publisher:
Stanford University Press
Publication Date:
2006