The administrative plan of the Seiyukai Party during the Inukai Tsuyoshi regime

The Inukai Tsuyoshi Cabinet, the last political party cabinet in prewar Japan, planned to establish a National Policy Council to consolidate “interministerial rivalry”, despite the fact that such institutional integration had not been originally necessary for a party cabinet. This is because it was believed that a party cabinet could overcome the decentralized nature of the Meiji Constitutional system by having like-minded party members serve as ministers of state in forming a cabinet.<br> 　This article attempts to further elucidate the process and inevitability by which the Rikken Seiyukai Party, one of the two major political parties in prewar Japan, was forced to shift to institutional integration in the face of the failure of a policy to integrate through bureaucratic “partilization”, a strategy aiming at political parties becoming the main actors in integration, thus resulting in “interministerial rivalry”. In concrete terms, the author offers an analysis of changes in the Inukai Cabinet’s administrative plan proposed by Yamamoto Jotaro.<br> 　During the Takahashi Korekiyo Cabinet, the Seiyukai had already presented a policy of consolidation, adding ministries to meet the demand for “improvements in efficiency” in administrative affairs, while at the same time carrying out “partilization” of the bureaucracy and administrative reorganization. However, the system of distinguishing between political and administrative affairs established by the Kato Takaaki Cabinet proved to be an obstacle for the Seiyukai, and given the mounting criticism of party politics that intensified during the Tanaka Giichi Cabinet, the Seiyukai was forced to change its integration policy. Nevertheless, the Tanaka Cabinet sought to integrate in accordance with the political principle based on the responsibility of the Ministers of State.<br> 　In contrast, the Seiyukai under PM Inukai shifted to a policy of integration based on the assumption that the status of administrative officers would be guaranteed. In addition, as “state ministers” became “administrative directors” and “interministerial rivalry” became problematic, an attempt was made to facilitate the integration of state ministers by abolishing ministries, which resonated with the administrative reform concept of the opposition party’s second Wakatsuki Reijiro Cabinet.<br> 　However, the Wakatsuki Cabinet’s attempt to abolish the Ministry of State failed under the very structure of “state ministers” becoming “administrative directors”, resulting in the Seiyukai abandoning integration under the Minister of State and turning to institutional integration, a concept based on the premise of “constitutional politics”, which differed from the principle of responsibility of the Minister of State, thus reducing the necessity for party cabinets. For these reasons, the National Policy Council can be identified as the nodal point between the eras of party politics and unified national cabinets.