The Political Project of the Ruling Rikkendōshi-kai Party from Its Origin to Self-Dissolution: Ideological Essence and Reasons for Fragility
##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.main##
##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.sidebar##
Abstract
The Rikkendōshi-kai party, founded in 1913, became the ruling party after winning the 1915 parliamentary election and Prime Minister Ōkuma Shigenobu joined it. In historiography, the process of Rikkendōshi-kai emergence, as well as this party’s cabinet, is limited to an exclusively positive statement of the fact of existence of such party and government, which in the midst of World War I was replaced by a “technical” non-party cabinet. The problem of deep reasons for emergence of such an unexpected power is not only unstudied but not even posed in available publications. During World War I the party government of the Association of Allies of the Constitution effectively pursued domestic political liberalization policy (property electoral qualification was reduced) and active external imperial expansion (particularly in China). Despite the undeniable achievements, Ōkuma’s single-party Cabinet did not rely on stable majority in the parliament. Thus, in October 1916 the Cabinet was dismissed and the Rikkendōshi-kai party ceased to exist. Problem and chronological analysis method of factual material allows to claim that the main reason for the self-dissolution of “The Association of Allies of the Constitution” was lack of experience in then Japanese political tradition of forming multiparty coalition governments. Japanese party politicians learned their lessons from Rikkendoshi-kai’s bitter experience. The key one was the fact that in conditions of absence of an unambiguously dominant party in the parliament a reliable party support for the government should become inter-party coalitions, formed on the basis of inter-party ideological and personnel compromises. However, that idea was implemented only in 1924, when, for the first time in its history, a true coalition “Cabinet of Three Parties to Defend the Сonstitution” (Goken sampa naikaku) led Japan.
How to Cite
##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.details##
Japan, Ōkuma Shigenobu, parliament, Rikkendōshi-kai party (Association of Allies of the Constitution), World War I
LITERATURE
Chi M. China Diplomacy, 1914–1918. Cambridge (Mass.), 1970. https://doi.org/10.1163/9781684171620
Elleman B. A. Wilson and China: A Revised History of the Shandong Question. Armonk, New York and London, 2002.
Hamilton R. F., Herwig H. H. The Origins of World War I. Cambridge, 2003.
Liu J. Foreign Exchange: Counterculture Behind the Walls of St. Hilda’s School for Girls, 1929–1937. Bethlehem, 2011.
Shimizu Yuichiro. The Origins of the Modern Japanese Bureaucracy / Transl. by A. Ghadimi. London, New York, Oxford, New Delhi and Sydney, 2020.
Zarrow P. China in War and Revolution, 1895–1949. London – New York, 2005. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203015629
駄場 裕司。 後藤新平をめぐる権力構造の研究。 仙台, 2007.
伊吹 健。 日本政党史: 1890–1947年まで。 東京, 2005.
岩田 規久男。 昭和恐慌の研究。 東京, 2004.
川田 稔, 伊藤 之雄。 20世紀日米関係と東アジア。 名古屋, 2002.
川崎 庸之, 原田 伴彦, 奈良本 辰也, 小西 四郎。 読める年表・日本史。 東京, 2001.
亀井 貫一郎。 亀井貫一郎氏談話速記錄。 東京, 1970.
季武 嘉也。 大正期の政治構造。 東京, 1998.
小林 道彦。 日本の大陸政策 1895–1914: 桂太郎と後藤新平。 仙台, 1996.
小林 道彦。 桂太郎: 予が生命は政治である。 京都, 2006.
纐纈 厚。 近代日本の政軍関係: 軍人政治家田中義一の軌跡。 東京, 1987.
近藤 操。 加藤 高明。 東京, 1986.
御 厨貴。 時代の先覚者・後藤 新平: 1857–1929。 東京, 2004.
村川 一郎。 日本保守党小史: 自由民権と政党政治。 東京, 1978.
村川 一郎。 日本政党史辞典: 一八六八年~一九八九年。 東京, 1998.
内藤 一成。 貴族院。 東京, 2008.
中村 宗悦。 後藤文夫: 人格の統制から国家社会の統制へ。 東京, 2008.
奈良岡 聰智。 加藤高明と政党政治: 二大政党制への道。 東京, 2006.
日本重要人物辞典。 東京, 1988.
日本近現代史辞典。 東京, 1978.
日本史年表。 東京, 2001.
岡 義武。 転換期の大正: 1914–1924。 東京, 1969.
大隈重信とその時代: 議会・文明を中心として。 東京, 1989.
大西 健夫, 斎藤 憲, 川口 浩。 堤康次郎と西武グループの形成。 東京, 2006.
阪上 順夫。 現代選挙制度論。 東京, 1990.
玉井 清。 原敬と立憲政友会。 東京, 1999.
遠山 茂樹。 近代日本の政治家。 東京, 1964.
藤村 道生。 日本近代史の再検討。 仙台, 1993.
古川 隆久。 政治家の生き方。 東京, 2004.
山本 四郎。 政変: 近代政治史の一側面。 奈良, 1982.
由井 正臣。 大正デモクラシー。 東京, 1977.
REFERENCES
Chi M. (1970), China Diplomacy, 1914–1918, Harvard University Press, Cambridge (Mass.). https://doi.org/10.1163/9781684171620
Elleman B. A. (2002), Wilson and China: A Revised History of the Shandong Question, M. E. Sharpe, Armonk, New York and London.
Hamilton R. F. and Herwig H. H. (2003), The Origins of World War I, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Liu J. (2011), Foreign Exchange: Counterculture Behind the Walls of St. Hilda’s School for Girls, 1929–1937, Lehigh University Press, Bethlehem.
Shimizu Yuichiro (2020), The Origins of the Modern Japanese Bureaucracy, Transl. by A. Ghadimi, Bloomsbury Publishing, London, New York, Oxford, New Delhi and Sydney.
Zarrow P. (2005), China in War and Revolution, 1895–1949, Routledge, London and New York. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203015629
Daba Yūji (2007), Gotō Shinpei-o meguru kenryoku kōzō-no kenkyū, Nansō-sha, Sendai. (In Japanese).
Ibuki Ken (2005), Nihon seitō shi: 1890–1947-nen made, Shōgaku-sha, Tōkyō. (In Japanese).
Iwata Kikuo (2004), Shōwa kyōkō-no kenkyū, Tōyō keizai shinpō-sha, Tōkyō. (In Japanese).
Kawada Minoru and Itō Yukio (2002), 20 seiki Nichi-Bei kankei to Higashi Ajia, Fūbai-sha, Nagoya. (In Japanese).
Kawasaki Yasuyuki, Harada Tomohiko, Naramoto Tatsuya and Konishi Shirō (2001), Yomeru nenpyō nipponshi, Daigaku kyōiku-sha, Tōkyō. (In Japanese).
Kamei Kan’ichirō (1970), Kamei Kan’ichirō-shi danwa sokki hesha, Nihon kindai shiryō kenkyū-kai, Tōkyō. (In Japanese).
Kitake Yoshinari (1998), Taishōki-no seiji kōzō, Yoshikawa kōbunkan, Tōkyō. (In Japanese).
Kobayashi Michihiko (1996), Nihon-no tairiku seisaku 1895–1914: Katsura Tarō to Gotō Shinpei, Nansō-sha, Sendai. (In Japanese).
Kobayashi Michihiko (2006), Katsura Tarō: Yo ga seimei wa seiji de aru, Mineruvu ashobō, Kyōto. (In Japanese).
Kōketsu Atsushi (1987), Kindai Nihon-no seigun kankei: gunjin seijika Tanaka Giichi-no kiseki, Daigaku kyōiku-sha, Tōkyō. (In Japanese).
Kondō Misao (1986), Katō Takaaki, Jiji tsūshin-sha, Tōkyō. (In Japanese).
Mikuri Takashi (2004), Jidai-no senkaku-sha. Gotō Shinpei: 1857–1929, Fujiwara shoten, Tōkyō. (In Japanese).
Murakawa Ichirō (1978), Nihon hoshu tō shōshi: Jiyū minken to seitō seiji, Kyōiku-sha, Tōkyō. (In Japanese).
Murakawa Ichirō (1998), Nihon seitō-shi jiten: 1868–1989, Kokushokankō-kai, Tōkyō. (In Japanese).
Naitō Issei (2008), Kizoku-in, Dōsei-sha, Tōkyō. (In Japanese).
Nakamura, Muneyoshi (2008), Gotō Fumio: jinkaku-no tōsei kara kokka shakai-no tōsei-e, Nihon keizai hyōron-sha, Tōkyō. (In Japanese).
Naraoka Satoshi (2006), Katō Takaaki to seitō seiji: nidaiseitōsei-e no michi, Yamakawa shuppan-sha, Tōkyō. (In Japanese).
Nihon jūyō jinbutsu jiten (1988), Kyōiku-sha, Tōkyō. (In Japanese).
Nihon kingendai-shi jiten (1978), Tōyō keizai shinpō-sha, Tōkyō. (In Japanese).
Nihon shi nenpyō (2001), Iwanami-shoten, Tōkyō. (In Japanese).
Oka Yoshitake (1969), Tenkanki-no Taishō: 1914–1924, Tōkyō-daigaku shuppan-kai, Tōkyō. (In Japanese).
Ōkuma Shigenobu to sono jidai: gikai bunmei o chūshin to shite (1989), Waseda-daigaku shuppan-bu, Tōkyō. (In Japanese).
Ōnishi Takeo, Saitō Ken and Kawaguchi Hiroshi (2006), Tsutsumi Kōjirō to Seibu gurūpu-no keisei, Chisen shokan, Tōkyō. (In Japanese).
Sakagami Yorio (1990), Gendai senkyo seido-ron, Seiji kōhō sentā, Tōkyō. (In Japanese).
Tamai Kiyoshi (1999), Hara Takashi to Rikkenseiyū-kai, Keiō gijuku daigaku shuppan-kai, Tōkyō. (In Japanese).
Tōyama Shigeki (1964), Kindai Nihon-no seijika, Kōdan-sha, Tōkyō. (In Japanese).
Fujimura Michio (1993), Nihon kindai shi-no saikentō, Nansō-sha, Sendai. (In Japanese).
Furukawa Takahisa (2004), Seijika-no ikikata, Bungeishunjū, Tōkyō. (In Japanese).
Yamamoto Shirō (1982), Seihen: Kindai seiji shi-no ichi sokumen, Hanawa shobō, Nara. (In Japanese).
Yui Masaomi (1977), Taishō demokurashī, Yūseidō shuppan, Tōkyō. (In Japanese).
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.