Taishō democracy

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The "Taishō democracy" ( Japanese 大 正 デ モ ク ラ シ ー , Taishō demokurashī , from English democracy ) was a phase in the history of Japan during the Empire , in which liberal ideas changed state and society, the previously ruling Meiji oligarchy lost its supremacy and broader social classes participated in the political process. It is named after the Taishō period (1912-1926), the rule of the Taishō - Tennō , even if it does not entirely coincide with it in time.

The beginning and especially the end of Taishō democracy are dated differently. After a widespread, comprehensive periodization, it begins with the end of the Russo-Japanese War in 1905 and ends with the overthrow of the Inukai cabinet , the last party cabinet , in 1932. Some see the Taishō democracy with the invasion of Manchuria in 1931 or as early as in Ended in 1925, which saw both universal male suffrage and the Law on the Maintenance of Public Safety were passed. The First World War with the revolutions in Germany and Russia or the Taishō Seihen of 1913 is sometimes seen as the beginning of Taishō democracy .

Important developments were the popularization of liberal ideas by authors such as Yoshino Sakuzō and Minobe Tatsukichi , the resulting movement for universal suffrage ( Fusen Undō ), later unsuccessful for women's suffrage , public discussions about reforms of the constitutional organs such as Kizokuin , the relative loss of power Sūmitsu-in , the Genrō and the military ( army and navy ) in favor of the parliament and the parties and the phase of party cabinets beginning with the Hara cabinet in 1918.

literature

  • Janet Hunter: Concise Dictionary of Modern Japanese History . University of California Press, 1984, p. 217: Taishō Democracy
  • Regine Mathias : Taisho Democracy : Political Awakening and Socio-Economic Change, 1918–1932 . In: Josef Kreiner (ed.): Small history of Japan . Phillipp Reclam, Stuttgart 2010, ISBN 978-3-15-010783-6 , pp. 342-350 .
  • Harald Meyer: The «Taishō Democracy». Conceptual historical studies on the reception of democracy in Japan from 1900 to 1920. (= Welten Ostasiens / Worlds of East Asia / Mondes de l'Extrême-Orient. Vol. 4). Peter Lang, Bern / Berlin / Bruxelles / Frankfurt am Main / New York / Oxford / Vienna 2005, ISBN 978-3-03910-642-4 .