Justin Reeves

Modern Japanese politics; comparative governmental institutions; celebrity politics; voting behavior

Justin Reeves holds a B.A. in both Japanese and Political Science from the University of California, Los Angeles and recently obtained his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California, San Diego. His research interests include comparative governmental institutions, voting behavior, and Japanese politics. For his dissertation, titled “Famous Amateurs in a Professional’s Race: The Causes and Consequences of Celebrity Politics,” Professor Reeves conducted extensive fieldwork in Tokyo as a Fulbright Fellow from 2013-2014 while affiliated with Waseda University. He has lectured a course in comparative politics at Gakushuin University in Tokyo three times from 2011 to 2013.

Professor Reeves has published peer-reviewed work on electoral system reform in Oxford Bibliographies Online, and is currently exploring the impact of mandatory preference vote rules on representation. His other projects center around heuristics and the relative importance of candidate attributes in voting decisions. Outside of his academic interests, he enjoys surfing, travel, and hiking.