Nambara Shigeru (1889–1974): how a Japanese liberal conceptualized eternal peace, 1918–1951

Nambara Shigeru was a rara avis of Japanese liberal academics at hard times in that he survived difficult times without being punished by the oppressive government in the pre-war Japan and the occupation authorities in the immediate post-war Japan. He specialized in Western political philosophy espe...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Japanese journal of political science 2018-12, Vol.19 (4), p.612-621
Main Author: Inoguchi, Takashi
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Academic staff
Agriculture
Armed forces
Bible
Christianity
Democracy
Idealism
International relations
Journalists
Kant, Immanuel (1724-1804)
Liberalism
Middle schools
Military occupations
Nationalism
Nazi groups
Peace
Peacekeeping
Personal profiles
Philosophy
Political philosophy
Political science
Politics
Presidents
Religion
Resignations
Secondary schools
Self defense
Self determination
Special Section, The Wilsonian Moment: Japan, 1912–1952 (Edited by Takashi Inoguchi)
Students
War
Writers
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Nambara Shigeru was a rara avis of Japanese liberal academics at hard times in that he survived difficult times without being punished by the oppressive government in the pre-war Japan and the occupation authorities in the immediate post-war Japan. He specialized in Western political philosophy especially in Immanuel Kant and Johann Gottlieb Fichte, known as proponents of German idealism and nationalism. His magnum opus was published, without being punished, in 1944, arguing that the Nazi politics was totally against the Western political tradition. In 1945–46, he made clear his opposition to the draft new Constitution in which the emperor be symbolic and the armed forces be abolished. In 1949–1950, he made clear his view that Japan, once Japan admitted to the United Nations, what would become Japanese Self-Defense Forces should donate portions to what would become United Nations Peace Keeping Operations. On the basis of his writings in the war period and the occupation period, comparisons of his positions with Roger Scruton, Vladislav Surkov, Yanaihara Tadao, Akamatsu Kaname, Nitobe Inazo, and Yanagida Kunio on such concepts as democracy promotion, national self-determination, peace keeping are attempted to see the extent to which the pent-up Wilsonian moment burst in the immediate post-war period.
ISSN:1468-1099
1474-0060
DOI:10.1017/S1468109918000373