Paul Brooker was born in Rarotonga, the Cook Islands in 1956 and was educated at Victoria University of Wellington and then Oxford University, where he gained an MPhil and DPhil. He then taught Political Science at Victoria University of Wellington and the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. He semi-retired in 2008 but continued researching until fully retiring in 2012. Since then has continued to publish, including a chapter in the fourth edition of Comparative Politics (OUP, 2017) and a third edition of Non-Democratic Regimes (Palgrave, 2014). Other publications include Leadership in Democracy (Palgrave, 2005).

Margaret Hayward was born in Christchurch, New Zealand. She was a journalist before becoming Private Secretary to New Zealand Prime Minister Norman Kirk, whose biography Diary of the Kirk Years she authored in 1982. Following his death, she held managerial positions in the media, health, accountancy, and farm machinery sectors. She has also lectured in Business Communication at Wellington Polytechnic, and at the International Department, Victoria University Wellington. In retirement she has contributed to various academic journals, become an international rose judge and written several books about the genus rosa.