To what extent can the Meiji political reform be called as democratic?

His 1105: History and The Historian

Assignment one: Researching A Specific Topic

Research topic

To what extent can the Meiji political reform be called as democratic?

Reference Works

Relevant (Secondary) Sources

Brief Description of the Research Topic

A democratic constitution should fulfill the following requirements: the emperor being checked, the well-defined division of power, the power for the diet to check the executive, and last but not least, public participation in politics. Considering the period when the Japanese Constitution was written, the feudal background of the men in control of the government and the nature of Japanese society and politics, it established perhaps as liberal a system of government as could have worked in Japan at that time.

The Meiji political structure had been described as Tennosei meaning that Tenno was unimpeachable and semi-divine. His supremacy was presented as dogma. However, he did not exercise temporal power by himself, restricted by constitutional law, e.g. his power to appoint ministers at will had to be countersigned by ministers to take effects. Therefore, he was still a figure-head, a ‘prisoner in his palace’.

On the surface, the power of the state was held by a small group of men with minimal responsibility to the people. However, the organs of the state woven into the a complicated fabric of checks and ...

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The Meiji political structure had been described as Tennosei meaning that Tenno was unimpeachable and semi-divine. His supremacy was presented as dogma. However, he did not exercise temporal power by himself, restricted by constitutional law, e.g. his power to appoint ministers at will had to be countersigned by ministers to take effects. Therefore, he was still a figure-head, a ‘prisoner in his palace’.

On the surface, the power of the state was held by a small group of men with minimal responsibility to the people. However, the organs of the state woven into the a complicated fabric of checks and balances, e.g. the cabinet granted exercise rights but to share them with Privy Council, Imperial Household Military and military high command.

Even though the diet session was limited to three months a year, the diet did not only have the power to debate and approve the annual budget, but also enact legislation on its own, confirm or reject imperial ordinances issued when Diet was not in session.

Some historians criticized that the constitution was tailored to maintain the oligarchs in power and the so-called representative government was just window-dressing to placate the mounting opposition. But one should note that the power of the oligarchs was hardly to be challenged due to the legitimization of the emperor. The suffrage, though limited to the 1.25% of the total population in 1890, opened the floodgate to politicize the general public and hence it paved for the way to the party politics in 1920s.

Japan became the first oriental nation to adopt the constitution system. The oligarchs still occupied the political high ground by their wall of political exclusiveness had now been breached. There were much scope for political conflict and competition. In conclusion, the Meiji political reform was said to be democratic to a large extent.

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the rise of modern japan by peter duus

as i remember it is from 1800 to the end of WWI and some of the totalitarian countries

in asian, i studied tokugawa to meiji reform (not v. sure)

and in china, from tongzi restoration to 1911rev and add some topics from 1911 to civil war 1949