A guide to the constitutional structures and electoral systems of east, south and southeast Asia

In 1997 an economic crisis swept through much of Asia. In addition to the various proximal causes of the crises, e.g. overvalued exchange rates, lax banking regulations, etc., political structures have received much attention. Some claim that problems in countries' political structures set the stage for the crisis. Others argue that governments' responses to the crisis were helped or hindered by existing political institutions. However, research on the consequences of Asian political institutions is hampered by a lack of basic information on the different constitutional and electoral frameworks around the region. This article is an attempt to help fill this void by providing a description of the constitutional structures and electoral systems of 17 Asian-Pacific countries since 1945.