A History of Liberal Reforms in Modern Japan: From a Trade-Based Nation to Embedded Liberalism

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K01447
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 06010:Politics-related
• Research Institution: Osaka University
• Principal Investigator: Takiguchi Tsuyoshi 大阪大学, 大学院法学研究科, 教授 (10257959)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 久野 洋 ノートルダム清心女子大学, 文学部, 准教授 (10795181) ; 矢嶋 光 名城大学, 法学部, 准教授 (30738571) ; 醍醐 龍馬 小樽商科大学, 商学部, 准教授 (70802841)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 貿易立国 / 殖産興業 / 産業立国 / 自由通商 / 榎本武揚 / 犬養毅 / 芦田均 / 大阪財界

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study clarified the genealogy of liberal reforms in modern Japanese political history. As in the present day, addressing the issue of inequality was an essential element in modern Japan, but in modern Japan, a country with few natural resources and an open economy, policy ideas that focused on strengthening trade and economic competitiveness were important except in wartime.
As a genealogy of the liberal reform path in modern Japan, firstly, the study clarified the "encouragement of industry" and the path from a "trade-based nation" to an "industrial nation" during the Meiji and Taisho periods, focusing on Enomoto Takeaki and Inukai Tsuyoshi. Secondly, the study clarified the genealogy from the "free trade" of the early Showa period to the "embedded liberalism" of the postwar period through the free trade movement and trends in the Osaka business world, and also through the trends of Ashida Hitoshi in political parties.

Free Research Field

日本政治史

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究の学術的意義としては、従来軽視されてきた近代日本における自由主義的、非国家主義的改革路線の系譜を明らかにしたことである。戦間期の「格差」や社会問題を視野に入れた「新自由主義」的路線は、どこから来てどこからどこに引き継がれてゆくことになったのか、示唆を得ることになった。また社会的意義としては、現代において注目度の高い、市場と格差問題、さらに外交構想との関係を日本の近代に遡って研究したことである。