Nambara Shigeru (1889–1974)

How a Japanese liberal conceptualized eternal peace, 1918–1951

Bibliographic Data

ID7303749
AuthorsTakashi Inoguchi (J. F. Oberlin University, corresponding author)
Year2018
Volume19
Issue4
Pages612-621
Publication date2018-11-16
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJapanese Journal of Political Science (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1468-1099 • E-ISSN: 1474-0060
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s1468109918000373
OpenAlexW2900511767
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited13

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

Ancient history · Art · Constitution · Democracy · Economic history · Emperor · Idealism · Liberalism · Literature · Magnum opus · Nationalism · Nazism · Opposition (politics · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Global Peace and Security Dynamics · Historical and Contemporary Political Dynamics · History · Law · Philosophy · Religious studies · War, Ethics, and Justification

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub