ABSTRACT
India and Japan are parliamentary systems, and the governments of both countries follow basic conventions of the parliamentary systems of Europe. There are multiple ways to structure national power in both democratic and authoritarian states. Power may be deliberately fragmented with checks and balances, as in the American presidential system. India and Japan have bicameral legislatures, with the lower house in each case being the more powerful of the two bodies. In India and Japan the political executives of the two countries bear more similarity to each other than do the heads of state. The Indian national Parliament consists of the lower house, the Lok Sabha; the upper house, the Rajya Sabha; and the president of India. Early dissolution in Japan, like India, Britain, and other parliamentary systems, may occur either when the government loses the confidence of the lower house or when the prime minister seeks to increase his or her party's strength in parliament.
