In 2000, Heinrich Krumwiede and Detlef Nolte published a comprehensive study on the legislatures of 17 Latin American countries. The study was commissioned and sponsored by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAF) in Germany. One of the conclusions drawn by the foundation from the study was that parliaments in non-Western countries are even more under-researched than other areas of the political system. The study of Latin American parliaments also suggested that even years after redemocratization, legislatures — contrary to their frequent celebration as embodiments of people's sovereignty — in reality play a subordinate role in the political process. If legislative institutions are to be strengthened by parliamentary reforms or even external assistance, more systematic research is needed that transcends the ubiquitous juridical studies with their emphasis on the legal and institutional aspects of legislatures. This calls for studies providing insights into the question of how, when, and to what extent parliaments are involved in policymaking.

We are thus grateful that considerations like these motivated the KAF to commission the Arnold Bergstraesser Institute (ABI) in Freiburg, Germany to carry out a study on the parliaments of India, Indonesia, the Philippines, South Korea, and Thailand. In particular, we thank the initiators of the study, Dr Winfried Jung, then Director of International Cooperation II (Africa, Asia, Middle East, Latin America), and Dr Colin Dürkop, then head of the Asia department of the foundation, as well as Dr Peter R. Weilemann, then Director of International Cooperation I, and Dr Wolfgang H. Koll of the International Planning Staff for their generous support. Dr Koll was also responsible for coordinating the study on the part of the foundation and for administrative backstopping. He did so with great care. We thank him for his patience and trust in the research team, as studies requiring a period of two years are rather unusual in the world of development cooperation where emphasis is more often placed on operational efficiency than academic rigour. Dr Dürkop, even in his new position as the foundation's regional representative in Singapore, displayed great interest in the project's progress and always had a great understanding of the needs of the research team.