The process of forming a modern political order based on majority rule in local communities in the Meiji 10s

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21K20116
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: 0106:Political science and related fields
• Research Institution: Ritsumeikan University
• Principal Investigator: IKOMI TAKANORI 立命館大学, 衣笠総合研究機構, 研究員 (90906744)
• Project Period (FY): 2021-08-30 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 多数決 / 公議 / 町村会 / 地租改正 / 近代社会 / 個人

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study examines the formation and operational process of majority rule in local communities during the Meiji Restoration. First, by examining the actual situation of assemblies over land tax reform, it argues for the formation of a civil society in which people are recognised as mutually equal individuals limited to male householders. Secondly, the formation of a majority-rule political society with local assemblies in which individuals act.Through the interaction of the above two points, it elucidates the establishment of a modern political order in which decisions by majority rule become normative in the local community and involve coercion for the people.
Results of this study provides a perspective linking the transformation of the council system “kougi” and the transformation from early modern society to modern society during the Meiji Restoration.

Free Research Field

日本近代史

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

地域社会の合意形成の〈場〉において、多数決が定着に至る要因と、多数決の運用過程の検証にまで踏みこんで近世社会から近代社会への転換を提示する本研究は、明治維新期における社会変革の特質を、地域の人々の〈合意形成システムの変容〉という切り口から再考を迫るものであり、明治維新史研究や近世近代移行期研究に新たなページを開く研究として位置づけられる。これは、多数決の適切な運用や、思慮ある「民意」に即した熟議・討議デモクラシーによる政治の構築といった今日的な問題に関して、歴史的に合意形成のあり方がどのように模索されてきたのか、その背景にどのような問題があったのかを検討する際にも重要な指標になりえる。