2023 Volume 74 Issue 1 Pages 1_344-1_366
The local government system in Japan, established through the enactment of the “Three New Laws” (Sanshinpō) in 1878, was the first democratic system embodied in national and local governments for the country. Democratic local assemblies were institutionalized to deliberate on taxes and budgets, and government-appointed governors were held accountable to residents in their jurisdiction through assembly deliberations. The purpose of this study is to elucidate how the national government decided to introduce such a system which potentially constrains its authority. This study analyzes the enactment process using a theoretical framework based on insights from historical institutionalism (Hall 2010), and finds that: (1) the national political elite were not homogeneous in preferences over local government, as assumed by the conventional theory, leading to a conflict between proponents with instrumental beliefs about the value of local autonomy based on their prior experience managing feudal domains (han) and opponents who lacked such beliefs, and; (2) crises including the Ise Riots, a large-scale peasant uprising in 1876, and the Seinan War, a large-scale samurai uprising in 1877, caused shifts in power dynamics, enabling proponents of autonomy to expand their support and institutionalize the system of local government by overcoming opposition.