2010 年 47 巻 1 号 p. 156-168
This paper attempts to analyze the influence of the House of Councillors on the legislative process from the viewpoint of the government. Specifically, it examines how the government's legislative action changed when the divided Diet occurred in 2007. This examination identified two clear changes: first, the government put off presenting many bills in their selection of bills to submit; and second, the government presented many bills to the Diet at an early stage. These findings suggests that the government's strategic lawmaking led to a high bill approval rate in the divided Diet, and that the influence of the House of Councillors on the legislative process cannot be correctly understood without consideration of the government's strategic lawmaking.