The Quest for Japanese Fascism: A Historiographical Overview

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

Abstract

‘Japanese fascism’ is a historiographical construct rather than a historical reality. Whether Japan’s sociopolitical developments in the 1930s and early 1940s can be legitimately and authoritatively defined as ‘fascist’ depends on the triangulation of three axes of analysis: historical reconstructions of institutional, political, social, and ideological processes; historiographical surveys of the palimpsest of interpretations historians have given to this period of Japanese history; and metahistorical analyses of the cognitive legitimacy of the category of ‘fascism’. This essay focuses on the second axis, offering a historical survey of the historiographical debate on ‘Japanese fascism’ worldwide.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationCa' Foscari Japanese Studies
Subtitle of host publicationReligion and Thought
PublisherEdizioni Ca Foscari
Pages53-86
Number of pages34
Edition4
DOIs
StatePublished - 2021

Publication series

NameCa' Foscari Japanese Studies: Religion and Thought
Number4
Volume14
ISSN (Print)2610-900X
ISSN (Electronic)2610-9417

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Religious studies
  • Philosophy
  • Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)

Keywords

  • Fascism
  • Historiography
  • Japanese Fascism
  • Japanese Imperialism
  • Second World War

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