A study on the transition of policy and legal system over rivers:analisis of social change in modern Japan

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K04041
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Sociology
• Research Institution: Ryukoku University
• Principal Investigator: TANAKA Shigeru 龍谷大学, 社会学部, 教授 (60155132)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: 河川政策 / ナショナリゼーション / 省有化 / 藩閥 / 中央－地方関係 / 公－共－私 / 消費社会 / 社会変動

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Rivers and forests were to be managed by ministries when the Meiji nation tried to promote modernization in order to join the advanced Western nations. However, the ministries were characterized by a very strong sectionalism, as each strong feudal domain got a stranglehold at a specific ministry. In the case of important objective such as a river, which has various functions, the concerned ministries and agencies will be in conflict over their management rights. It is a competition aimed at "factional sectionalization" of river.
In this study, we have clarified that, not only is the concept of " factional sectionalization " effective in analyzing various events surrounding rivers, but it also explains various social phenomena such as the characteristics of Japanese fascism and the inhibition of the formation of independent individuals.

Free Research Field

環境社会学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

日本のセクショナリズムは、他国と比べて格段に強いが、その歴史的背景についてはほとんど論じられてこなかった。本研究は、その歴史的背景を藩閥による「廃藩置省」とも呼べる現象に求めた。日本は、明治維新を経て中央集権的国家となったが、藩閥勢力が各省庁をその拠点としたことで、「省庁分権」的国家となった。省庁分権の下では「省有化」が進行する。省有化は、人や組織、モノや自然などをその省庁の支配下に置くことである。
本研究は、この省有化概念によって、河川をめぐる紛争や社会運動を分析したばかりではなく、日本型ファシズムや棄民の問題、さらには消費社会化にともなう政治構造の変動などの分析への新たな視点を提供した。