ABSTRACT
Can parliaments contribute to good governance? If so, what type of good governance has been brought about? This is an important issue that is increasingly of interest in recent years in Japan as well as in other countries. In any country, the issue of whether parliaments, central or local, have brought about good governance ranks very high on the present political agenda among scholars, citizens as well as politicians and practitioners. For sure, neither the organization nor function of parliament can be separated from normative considerations of good governance.
