The Japanese case of transition towards political modernity and the accentuation of citizen/individual status vis-à-vis the State presents some peculiarities that make it unique in its historical experience. The abandonment of late feudalism around the middle of the nineteenth century catapulted the country into a completely new universe in political, social and cultural terms. The newborn Meiji State experimented with forms of parliamentary democracy, but it was only in the last decades of that century that Japan saw a first rise of the individual as a political subject within a State controlled by an oligarchy. This fuelled a lively intellectual debate, the most significant moments of which have been investigated in this essay.
Frattolillo, O. (2025). Debating the Citizen-State Dialectic in Early Meiji Japan (1870-1890). RICERCHE DI STORIA POLITICA, XXVIII, 103-117.
Debating the Citizen-State Dialectic in Early Meiji Japan (1870-1890)
Oliviero Frattolillo
2025-01-01
Abstract
The Japanese case of transition towards political modernity and the accentuation of citizen/individual status vis-à-vis the State presents some peculiarities that make it unique in its historical experience. The abandonment of late feudalism around the middle of the nineteenth century catapulted the country into a completely new universe in political, social and cultural terms. The newborn Meiji State experimented with forms of parliamentary democracy, but it was only in the last decades of that century that Japan saw a first rise of the individual as a political subject within a State controlled by an oligarchy. This fuelled a lively intellectual debate, the most significant moments of which have been investigated in this essay.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
