일본에서 민주주의의 형성과 변천―전전(戰前) “민본주의”부터 전후(戰後) “민주주의”까지―

Abstract

This essay traces the conceptualization and development of democracy in modern Japan by focusing on the institutionalization of party politics from the pre-war period to the post-war period. In the pre-war period, 'party governments' in which the head of the majority party in the diet became the prime minister were institutionalized in the 1920s. It was during this time that ideas and practices of "democracy" were widely discussed in Japanese society. One of the leading intellectuals who set the ground for national debates on "democracy" in terms of "minponshugi" was Yoshino Sakuzo. By analyzing Yoshino's ideas on "democracy" within the context of changing state-society relations, this essay delineates possibilities and limits of "minponshugi" in the institutionalization of party politics. In the post-war period, the rebuilding of democracy by party politics was complicated by "anpo" struggles of the 1960s and the rapid economic development. The focus of the post-war development of democracy will be the formation and transformation of "citizens" in Japanese society.