Parliaments in Asia : introduction

Legislatures in Asia come in all stripes. Liberal democracies co-exist cheek by jowl with autocracies; semi-democratic and competitive authoritarian systems abound. While all legislatures exist to make law and confer legitimacy on the political leadership, how representative they are of the people they govern differ dramatically across the continent, such that it is impossible to identify a common Asian characteristic. This chapter showcases the rich varieties that exist in Asia and explain how political power is constituted in each jurisdiction. Furthermore, alongside detailed jurisdictional studies of 17 countries and regions, we also provide a taxonomy to explain the diverse regime types in Asia. These regime types are as follows: communist regimes, liberal democracies, dominant party democracies, turbulent democracies, presidential democracies, military regimes, and protean authoritarian rule. And we explain how the jurisdiction's regime type impacts its government's performance and legitimacy.