Party Discipline and Democratic Reform in Japan‪.‬

In 2005, the Japanese Upper House defeated the government's postal privatisation bill. Several members of the governing Liberal Democratic Party voted with the opposition. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi took this defeat as tantamount to a motion of no confidence against him and advised the Emperor to dissolve the Lower House as per article 7 of the constitution. This article looks at the traditional argument that parliamentary government requires strong party discipline. It asks if party cohesion and discipline is really central to the maintenance of parliamentary democracy and suggests that unless parties allow members to engage in a free discussion and criticism of government and to vote in accordance with their views, Parliament is unlikely to be very successful. The more freedom a member is granted, the more democratic is the legislative policy process. The paper argues that effective policymaking needs democratic reform. **********