The Constitutional Meanings and Roles of Members of the Local Assemblies

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the discussions over the proper number of the seats of the members of the local assemblies in Japan and to consider the roles of members in democratic society from the perspective of constitutionalism. Actually, answering “the proper number” would be almost impossible and nonsense. It would be clear that the pressures of reducing the assemblies’ seats number have been caused by structural problem which is that it has been abandoned to make efforts to seek the substantial roles of the local assemblies and their members in spite of democratically changing the meanings of the local assemblies from the time of establishing the Constitution of Japan. Strengthen the ability of “organized” intelligence would be a key concept for the local assemblies to recover people’s confidence and improve its performance.