Overview
- Introduces Tanaka Kotaro to a new audience based on readings of his work in the original Japanese
- Situates Tanaka within his cultural and linguistic context
- Provides a synoptic view of Tanaka's contributions to global political thought
Part of the book series: Global Political Thinkers (GPT)
Access this book
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Other ways to access
Table of contents (6 chapters)
Keywords
- kyōyōshugi
- Taisho cultural education
- commercial law
- religious freedom
- World Law
- Natural Law
- Vehementer Nos
- nation vs. State
- Ernst Zitelmann
- Sannenkai group
- education reform in postwar Japan
- Fundamental Law of Education
- Freemasonry in Occupied Japan
- Eugenics Protection Bill
- Japanese Supreme Court
- Mibuchi Tadahiko
- world peace
- International Court of Justice
- human rights
- peace and justice
About this book
This book explores one of the 20th century’s most consequential global political thinkers and yet one of the most overlooked. Tanaka Kōtarō (1890-1974) was modern Japan’s pre-eminent legal scholar and jurist. Yet because most of his writing was in Japanese, he has been largely overlooked outside of Japan. His influence in Japan was extraordinary: the only Japanese to serve in all three branches of government, and the longest serving Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. His influence outside Japan also was extensive, from his informal diplomacy in Latin America in the prewar period to serving on the International Court of Justice in the 1960s. His stinging dissent on that court in the 1966 South-West Africa Case is often cited even today by international jurists working on human rights issues. Above and beyond these particular lines of influence, Tanaka outlined a unique critique of international law as inherently imperialistic and offered as its replacement a theory of World Law (aka“Global Law”) based on the Natural Law. What makes Tanaka’s position especially notable is that he defended the Natural Law not as a European but from his vantage point as a Japanese jurist, and he did so not from public law, but from his own expertise in private law. This work introduces Tanaka to a broader, English-reading public and hopes thereby to correct certain biases about the potential scope of ideas concerning human rights, universality of reason, law and ethics.
Reviews
“Doak’s new book on Tanaka is a must-read, as it opens up entirely new vistas of thought onto globalism’s possibilities. ... Doak’s book is truly a masterpiece of concision, readability, and research.” (Jason Morgan, The Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal, July 21, 2019)
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Tanaka Kōtarō and World Law
Book Subtitle: Rethinking the Natural Law Outside the West
Authors: Kevin M. Doak
Series Title: Global Political Thinkers
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02035-4
Publisher: Palgrave Pivot Cham
eBook Packages: Political Science and International Studies, Political Science and International Studies (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2019
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-02034-7Published: 12 October 2018
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-02035-4Published: 01 October 2018
Series ISSN: 2946-3874
Series E-ISSN: 2946-3882
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XI, 127
Number of Illustrations: 3 b/w illustrations
Topics: International Relations Theory, Asian Politics, Human Rights and Crime , Legislative and Executive Politics, Globalization, Peace Studies