일본의 근대국가형성에 관한 학제적 연구

Abstract

ABSTRACT

This paper is an analysis of Japan’s modern nation-building process, namely its characteristics and reasons for success, beginning in the 1800s where Western forces first emerged in Japanese society to the entering into force of the Meiji Constitution, which completed the modern Japanese nation. With the Western forces entering into the Asian region, most nations including China and Chosun lost their status as independent nations and fell to colonial, or semi-colonial status. However, Japan retained its independence despite having signed five unequal treaties, and even succeeded at building a modern nation by putting in place a modern nation-state system and constitutional monarchy, and went on to amend its unequal treaties previously signed by the bakufu (shogunate). The question on how Japan successfully made its transition onto the modern age while its neighbors China and Japan were forced to accept modernity by exterior forces remains a very classic topic, but is at the same time always a novel one. This dissertation sets out to look into this very same question, utilizing unique analyses which will complement the limits of existing ones. There exist numerous dissertations and theories on Japan’s modern nation-building. Of those Max Weber and Charles Tilly’s theories were most helpful to this research. However, to rely entirely on Weber and Tilly would render the research lopsided, by having to focus either on military and socio-economic aspects or on the systematic aspect, and the nation-state of modernity is clearly too complex and immense to do rely on such narrow a focus. The modern nation-state is a great organism comprised of various factors, such as the formation of modern consciousness and individual, the formation of the modern state system, the formulation of international relations, and so on.