(no subject)
George M. Beckmann, The Making of the Meiji Constitution: The Oligarchs and the Constitutional Development of Japan, 1868-1891 (Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1957).
Exceedingly slim volume, straight and to the point - how the Meiji constitution was developed and promulgated and why.
The Meiji Constitution was the oligarchs' ultimate solution to the general problem of government that faced Japan after the collapse of the Tokugawa feudal system. In this broad context, the Meiji Constitution was a political highpoint in the destruction of feudalism and the rise of capitalism as well as in the emergence of a fervent nationalism during the nineteenth century. In a narrower political sense, the Meiji Constitution was basically a compromise embodying a feudal-based authoritarian political philosophy and the democratic movement's demand for representative government. While the oligarchs did establish a parliament, they were able to place adequate checks upon the powers of the legislature. Applying the doctrine that sovereignty rested in the person of a divine Emperor, they established a government in which they consolidated their control as the Emperor's ministers. Thus, in the final analysis, through their dominant position in the cabinet, the supreme command, the Privy Council, and the Imperial Household Ministry, the oligarchs sought to maintain their power in modern political forms sanctioned by a written constitution and buttressed by a renewed emphasis upon Shinto and orthodox Confucianism. (95)
Exceedingly slim volume, straight and to the point - how the Meiji constitution was developed and promulgated and why.
The Meiji Constitution was the oligarchs' ultimate solution to the general problem of government that faced Japan after the collapse of the Tokugawa feudal system. In this broad context, the Meiji Constitution was a political highpoint in the destruction of feudalism and the rise of capitalism as well as in the emergence of a fervent nationalism during the nineteenth century. In a narrower political sense, the Meiji Constitution was basically a compromise embodying a feudal-based authoritarian political philosophy and the democratic movement's demand for representative government. While the oligarchs did establish a parliament, they were able to place adequate checks upon the powers of the legislature. Applying the doctrine that sovereignty rested in the person of a divine Emperor, they established a government in which they consolidated their control as the Emperor's ministers. Thus, in the final analysis, through their dominant position in the cabinet, the supreme command, the Privy Council, and the Imperial Household Ministry, the oligarchs sought to maintain their power in modern political forms sanctioned by a written constitution and buttressed by a renewed emphasis upon Shinto and orthodox Confucianism. (95)