TAZAWA Yoshiharu (田沢義鋪), a high-ranking bureaucrat, may be considered as the representative of some features characterizing the bureaucrats in the Ministry of Home Affairs under the party cabinets. In this paper, the author aims at clarifying the contents and limits of the discourse carried on concerning political innovation advocated by bureaucrats under the vagaries of party politics during the 1920's by tracing the process of the formation of TAZAWA s view of local autonomy. TAZAWA thought that the corruption of party politics had its roots in the struggle among political parties at the local level, arguing that the solution to such a situation was the exclusion of party politics at local level by means of political education. His aim was to remove the political aspect of local administration, thus turning it into a purely practical one, turning local administration into pure practice meant, above all, the exclusion of the struggle among the political parties at local level by focusing on the public aspect of the local administration and on the common interests of local inhabitants, thus accomplishing a purification of the election system (Senkyo Shukusei Movement
選挙粛正運動
). To overcome the rural economic crisis of the early Showa period, TAZAWA tried to organize "staff offices in towns and villages (町村の参謀本部), which would be centers for local inhabitants and bases for the revival of local autonomy. At the same time, such "staff offices" were expected to be the main force in preventing confrontation among political parties at the local level, consent among inhabitants being the major support for them. Consequently, TAZAWA adopted his own view of local autonomy, "small nationalism" (sho-kokka shugi 小国家主義). His argument was based on a unique Japanese idea that attending to state affairs takes precedence over all others, and also contained the viewpoint of identifying local autonomy with state affairs. It provided a theoretical basis for the separation of local autonomy and party politics. His view of local autonomy was applied to the "village meeting" (Buraku Kondankai 部落懇談会), especially in the Senkyo Shukusei Movement of 1935. This meeting from this movement also played role in the exclusion of the party politics and the organization of the state. TAZAWA's view of local autonomy was a result of various movements for political innovation during the 1920's and might be said to have provided the theoretical basis for the exclusion of political struggles at the local level. It also established an image of local authority denying party politics and concerning itself only with local matters. Consequently, his version of Japanese local autonomy was supposed to place local authorities within the framework of a national administration where bureaucrats held power.
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