Vol. 75, No.2

Fusao KATO
Conference report on the modern history of local autonomy from a comparative perspective

The 77th annual conference of the Socio-Economic History Society was held at Hiroshima University on September 27 and 28, 2008. The general session was organized by Fusao KATO under the title shown above.

F. KATO reconsidered the modern history of German local autonomy judged from the standpoint of continuity and change, Akihiro OKADA discussed the modern development of the English system of local self-government, Takafumi KUROSAWA examined the correlation between contemporary local autonomy and regional economy in Switzerland, Yasuo UEMURA explored the village community and local autonomy in Java under Dutch colonial rule, and Fumio KANAZAWA discussed the establishment and transformation of the modern system of local self-government in Japan. Masaaki OKAMOTO, Haruhito TAKEDA, and Isao HIROTA presented comments from the East Asian, Japanese, and European perspectives, respectively.

Fusao KATO
Continuity and change in local self-government in modern Germany

As long as the German community served as an administrative unit in the era of Nazism, it continued to offer such social services as winter relief for the poor. A certain continuity in the German local self-government is thus in evidence, despite the severe trials that were met at the expense of local autonomy. Such a continuity is, however, nothing but a half-truth as we must acknowledge the serious "transformation" in the self-governing system: Modern Germany entered a phase of dual discontinuity characterized by the crisis of the Weimar Republic on the one hand and the domination of Nazism on the other. The historical basis of German local self-government and the form of self-government today are, however, not necessarily separated by an unbridgeable gap.

The aim of this article is to rethink German local self-government in light of the historical facts, by taking into account the two elements of continuity and change. First, I explain the characteristics of local autonomy in Germany. Next, I suggest the importance of a stratified structure in the German self-governing system in order to define the predominance of the executive in Germany. Finally, on the basis of the data on intergovernmental fiscal equalization, I reconsider the social and historical significance of the local self-governing system in Germany.

Akihiro OKADA
The development of English local self-government in the late 19th century

This paper aims to survey the development of English local self-government in the late 19th century for comparative analysis with European and Asian countries.

In England, the modern framework of local government had gradually been established through a series of the reforms after the 1830s, which are often called the "administrative revolution". The local authorities, which were corporations set up by statutes, assumed responsibility for a number of different functions, and the central government supervised and facilitated their activities. So the local government, although formally subordinate to the Parliament's will and constrained in their powers by the doctrine of ultra vires, worked virtually within an institutional structure that gave it wide discretion.

This paper examines these developments in a historical context and considers distinctive phases in the central-local relations that are in marked contrast to those in other countries.

Takafumi KUROSAWA
The modern history of local self-government in Switzerland: from a perspective of federalism and direct democracy

This paper uncovers the transformation and inherent characteristics of local autonomy in 19th- and 20th-century Switzerland by focusing on its federalism and direct democracy. In this federation with a centripetal force, the governments originated with Kantons (states), but the Gemeinde (basic autonomous bodies) also enjoyed a high degree of autonomy. Therefore, citizenship is based on three strata even now, namely, Gemeinde, Kanton, and national level. At all three levels of government, (semi) direct democracy is practiced as a result of the second turning point in Swiss history, in which the French Revolution-type modernism was suppressed. The case of the city of Bern illustrates the continuity and coexistence of the closed citizens corporation from the ancien regime and the newly established residents' Gemeinde, the overlapping of authority between Kanton and Gemeinde, the high degree of Gemeinde's right of self-governance, and the belated development of bureaucracy in the local administration. The process in the second expansion of the city of Zurich in 1934 shows what suburban Gemeindes went through when they faced urbanization and industrialization under an extremely decentralized fiscal system, and how the prolonged consensus-building process served as the bedrock of resident self-governance.

Yasuo UEMURA
The village and local autonomy in Java in the colonial era

From the beginning of the 19th century, the Dutch colonial government sought to reorganize the Javanese desa (village) into a standardized modern administrative village. This paper explores how the desa changed under this policy, mainly by examining the consolidation of desas and the enforcement of the Native Municipality Ordinance in 1906.

The new administrative village was formed by consolidating desas, which however sometimes failed to develop a sense of unity as former villages became part of a new one. But there were also cases in which solidarity developed in the new village. Thus the communality of the village was not absolute and depended on circumstances.

On the other hand the Native Municipality Ordinance aimed to change the desa into a municipality but tended to restrict its autonomy. Intervention by the authorities in the formation of village government or in the appointment and dismissal of village officials was incompatible with the autonomy of the desa. But it is also true that the people were not always strict in following this ordinance, nor was the fiscal foundation of desas firmly established. Thus the Dutch were unable to achieve a "native municipality" in its full sense.

Fumio KANAZAWA
Transformation of local autonomy in Japan from the "modern system" to the "contemporary system"

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the development of the local autonomy system in Japan since the Meiji Restoration (1868) and to clarify the historical significance of the two following particular periods.

First, during the post-Sino-Japanese War period, the Meiji government accepted the strong demands of the emerging bourgeoisie and implemented changes in the original local autonomy system. For instance, the city acquired rights of autonomy that guaranteed independence from rural areas regarding electoral districts and the prefectural budgetary system.

Second, since World War I, the central government required local governments to execute such public services as those dealing with problems of great urgency from a national point of view. The relationship between central and local governments became closer not only with the system of agency-delegated functions but also with various kinds of grants. These changes are characterized as the end of the "separate system" and transformation of local autonomy from a "modern system" into the "contemporary system."