Imaharism
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Imaharism, sometimes referred to as Katurou Imahara Thought (Senrian: 이마하라까뚜로우씨쏘우, Imahara Katurou sisou), is a Senrian ideology based upon the philosophy and policies of Katurou Imahara, and the founding ideology of the Aikokutou, the country's governing party. Developed amidst the Great War to outline Imahara's plan to transform Senria into an independent, powerful, prosperous, and modern nation after the war, the ideology was expanded further by Imahara during his four terms as Prime Minister of Senria and, following Imahara's death, by subsequent Senrian leaders.
Imaharism bases itself primarily around the three core principles of nationalism, statism, and republicanism, which Imahara considered necessary for the establishment and maintenance of a powerful and prosperous Senria. Each of these three principles is, in turn, subdivided into three "sub-principles", important factors or facets of a given principle. Though Imahara and his successors have typically been politically conservative, Imaharism has been used as the ideological justification for substantial reforms to Senrian society and governance, most notably by Imahara himself.
Origins
[imahara promulgates the three-point plan early in the war as a way to make sure senria wins it; later in the war, once it's more clear that the allies are going to win it, he begins to formulate his plan for what to do after the war]
[imahara himself writes that he always believed in principles one and two, and came to be convinced of point three during the revolution; he formally outlines the three principles and nine sub-principles in 32; they're expanded beyond the basic principles through his time in office and by subsequent leaders]
Three Principles
At the core of Imaharism are the Three Principles of Imaharism (이마하라씨쏘우노싼건쏘꾸, Imahara sisou no Sangensoku), alternatively known as the Three Principles and Nine Sub-Principles (싼건쏘꾸또꾸쏘우건쏘꾸, Sangensoku to Kusougensoku) or simply as the Three Principles (싼건쏘꾸, Sangensoku). These three principles - nationalism, statism, and republicanism - were regarded by Imahara as vital not only for Senria to become wealthy and powerful, but for its continued survival as a sovereign state, and as a result formed the guiding principles of both his personal ideology and the ideology of the Aikokutou, which Imahara founded.
Nationalism
The first, and in Imahara's conception the most fundamental, of the Three Principles is nationalism (민소꾸쑤기, minzokusugi). Imaharism regards the creation and maintenance of a sense of Senrian nationhood and a shared Senrian nationalism as a prerequisite to Senria's survival and well-being. While the Empire of Senria had similarly placed emphasis upon creating a sense of Senrian nationalism, this nationalism was heavily based in loyalty to the dragon king as a symbol of Senrian national unity, and Imahara sought to replace the dragon king as the focus of Senrian nationalism with an identity based around the shared history, language, culture, ethnicity, religion, and other traditions of the Senrian people.
Imahara believed that the maintenance of an immutable Senrian national identity, constructed around the shared history, language, and culture of the Senrian people, was necessary both for Senria to survive as a nation and to pursue its interests on the global stage, writing in 1937 that this would "provide the Senrian people with a sense of solidarity in all affairs, whether they be political, economic, military, social, or in any other sector"; this sense of solidarity and social cohesion would allow Senria to build up its economy, preserve domestic stability, resist foreign aggression, and exercise power abroad. This, Imahara argued, made it imperative for the Senrian government to promote and maintain the shared sense of nationhood and nationalism, "which must be the fundamental goal of all Senrian governments".
Patriotism
The first sub-principle under nationalism is patriotism (애꼬꾸, aikoku). Imahara believed that, in order for a shared sense of Senrian nationhood and nationalism to exist, the Senrian people would first have to be taught to be patriots:
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The Senrian people must be brought up to love, to be proud of, to revel in their country. They should be taught to love the sound of our language; the glory and honor of our history; the sublime beauty of our faith; and to glory in the richness of our customs and culture, in our music, cuisine, literature, visual art, theater, and all other areas. They should be brought up to do so from the earliest age, by the example of their parents, their teachers, and their elders; and this way they shall grow up to be rightfully proud to call themselves the inheritors of such noble patrimony.
— Katurou Imahara, "Patriotism", Three Principles for the Senrian Nation (1932)
Additionally, Imahara stated that the Senrian people should consider themselves to be first and foremost Senrians, and must instinctively oppose any efforts to denigrate or minimize Senria or its history, language, and customs, whether by other Senrians or by foreigners.
The Senrian government has, since the days of Imahara himself, heavily promoted Senrian culture as a means of encouraging Senrian patriotism. This has included, among other things, constructing or expanding national museums, hosting and financially supporting cultural festivals, providing support to groups which create or perform traditional art, music, and theater, and reconstructing or preserving national historic sites. Imahara himself founded and heavily promoted Senrian Cultural Pride Association as a means of promoting national pride within Senria; Imahara also oversaw the construction of several monuments, including Tosikuni Shrine, the Arch of Triumph, and Siroyamato Genocide Memorial, in order to encourage Senrian patriotism and nationalism. During the 1980s and 1990s, support by the government of Kiyosi Haruna for the Senrian Wave was viewed by some foreign analysts (including Caitlín Ní Cadhla and Gustav Kemmermann) as an extension of this doctrine into a means of expanding Senrian soft power across Kylaris. The Senrian education system is also used to promote Senrian patriotism, by teaching Senrian history in a fashion criticized by some as "whitewashing" and by promoting Senrian cultural activities as electives or extracurriculars.
Uniqueness
The second sub-principle of nationalism is uniqueness (유이이띠, yui'iti). Imaharism argues that it is not merely enough for Senrians to love and be proud of Senria, Senrian history, and Senrian culture; they must also instinctively recognize it as innately distinct from, and unparalleled by, all other cultures. Speaking to the Senbunzikai in 1944, Imahara said that:
Senrian culture has, since the most distant antiquity, been unlike any other culture. It stands above, distinct from all other cultures of Coius and the world. Certainly we have borrowed from the cultures of other countries, been inspired by the cultures of other people; but we have always adapted or altered these foreign borrowings and, in doing so, made them uniquely ours.
Imahara's thoughts and writings on this sub-principle are comparatively scant, with historian Hanako di Lupo even arguing - based upon secondhand recollections of conversations between Imahara, Iturou Nakagawa, and Hatirou Nakayama - that uniqueness was split off from patriotism primarily to make sure that each principle had three sub-principles. By contrast, historians including Vladislava Plisetskaya and Wilfred Mallory-Leigh have argued that Imahara regarded this sub-principle as among the most important and associated it with the longstanding concept of Senryuu-damasii; these authors cite policies such as the switch from Gyoumon to Kokumon, undertaken by the Senrian government from 1937 and regarded by them as an effort to emphasize Senrian cultural distinctiveness from the remainder of Coius, onward as emblematic of its centrality to Imahara's ideology.
Independence
The third sub-principle of nationalism is independence (도꾸리뚜, dokuritu). Heavily influenced by the Euclean conception of national self-determination, this point primarily argues that Senria, as a unique and cohesive nation, must have total sovereignty over its own territory and the ability to formulate its domestic and foreign policy without external interference or obstruction.
When this principle was first enunciated by Imahara in 1932, it referred simultaneously to independence from the Euclean empires that had imposed a litany of concessions upon Senria between 1871 and 1926, and to independence from the Heavenly Xiaodongese Empire, which Senria was at war with at the time. Both had long been a source of resentment or open hostility for Senrian nationalists and revolutionaries alike, and both Imahara and his rival Isao Isiyama had made reasserting Senrian sovereignty a political priority. Under Imahara, Senria was able to end the concessions extended to Entente nations as part of the Great War, and most of the concessions extended to Allied nations as part of the subsequent peace negotiations (including the leasing of Iezima and Kumezima to Estmere and the continued existence of the Keisi Legation Quarter); as a result, since 1935, this provision has primarily been applied with regards to Xiaodong. Subsequent Senrian prime ministers, most notably Tokiyasu Kitamura, Takesi Takahata, and Kiyosi Haruna, have used this principle to justify a policy of containment towards Xiaodong, arguing that a failure to contain Xiaodong would invariably result in a resurgence of militant Xiaodongese imperialism that would threaten Senrian independence.
Statism
The second of the Three Principles is statism (쎄후쑤기, seihusugi). Imaharist doctrine states that a strong, centralized authority in the form of a unitary state is necessary in order for the Senrian government to fulfill a series of aims and duties which are beneficial for the people and the nation, and that, so long as the state continues to act to accomplish these aims, it is the duty of the Senrian people to faithfully obey the state and aid it in this process.
Katurou Imahara frequently used the example of the Yowai and Tigoku periods of Senrian history, during which central imperial collapsed and was de facto replaced by the power of prominent local lords known as daimyou, as proof that the country needed a strong unitary government:
It is true that these periods produced great men, brave and cunning and honorable; but imagine what these men might have been able to accomplish had they not been born into eras of weakness and division. The defeat of Senria in the Tao invasion, it is likely, would never have happened; our victory in the Jiao invasion would no doubt have been faster and more glorious. The cultural flourishing of the middle and late Tigoku period would have been even richer and more wonderful amidst the stability of peace; the prolonged technological stagnation that has put us at the mercy of Euclea and Xiaodong in the past fifty years would never have occurred.
— Katurou Imahara, "Statism", Three Principles for the Senrian Nation (1932)
Similarly, when describing the sort of unified government he sought to create, Imahara often invoked those from more centralized periods of Senrian history, such as the imperial government during the Surutou period and the system of government established by the Dragon King Keiou in 1871, with the caveat that - as entailed in the third principle - the government he sought to establish would be republican in nature, rather than monarchic.
The three sub-principles under statism are the three items which Imahara considered to be the primary duties of any Senrian state.
National defense
The first sub-principle of statism is national defense (꼬꾸보우, kokubou). This includes the defense of the nation and its citizens from external invasion by hostile powers, the maintenance of territorial integrity and political sovereignty, and the protection of domestic stability from internal unrest. Imahara and subsequent Aikokutou politicians linked national defense heavily to the sub-principle of independence.
Imahara, a military officer by training and at that point leading Senria through the Great War, elaborated extensively on the principle of national defense in his earliest writings and speeches on the Three Principles, and while he covered it less extensively in later writings and speeches, he nonetheless counted it as a paramount duty for any Senrian government. Imahara himself said on multiple occasions that the strength of a state was inherently dependent upon the strength of its military, as without the military, a country's economic and cultural power could not be preserved, telling a session of the National Assembly that:
Obviously we should want Senria to be powerful in all sectors, and I take justified pride in the power of our homeland's economy, which has seen the fine craftsmanship of Senrian workers shipped to every country in Euclea and the Asterias. But no one in this room, or this country, can forget that this great economic might only exists so long as we have a military mighty enough to protect it from hostile forces.
— Katurou Imahara, 1946
Subsequent prime ministers, particularly those from the military (such as Takesi Takahata and Imahara's adoptive son Kitirou) and the Aikokutou's hardline faction (such as Kiyosi Haruna and Hayato Nisimura), have similarly put high emphasis upon this sub-principle in the context of protecting Senria from the military threat posed by Xiaodong and ROSPO, using it to justify high military budgets, the expansion of the Senrian Republican Armed Forces, and Senria's nuclear weaponry program. Before the political reforms of Kiyosi Haruna in the 1980s, this principle was also widely used to justify the suppression of the Senrian Section of the Workers' Internationale and the Farmer-Laborer Party for alleged links to left-wing militant groups, on the grounds that these groups posed an inside threat to national security.
National prosperity
The second sub-principle of statism is national prosperity (꼬꾸한에, kokuhan'ei). This sub-principle states that it is the duty of the Senrian state to protect the "economic well-being" of the Senrian people, and to provide them with an acceptable standard of living. Imahara typically defined "economic well-being" as steady access to food, water, housing, health, and employment. These rights have been interpreted as negative rights by Imahara and his successors in the Aikokutou, with the emphasis thus typically being on the Senrian state creating an environment in which the private sector can provide these services; the only exceptions to this are select public utilities such as water and electricity, which Imahara did believe the state had a duty to provide.
This relatively hands-off conception, in which it is the duty of the state merely to create an atmosphere in which the private sector can act to protect the economic well-being of the Senrian people, is linked by historians and political theorists such as Harukiti Tamabayasi, Ioulianos Tsakopoulos, and Eryk Wiljâmssun to the creation of the keiretu system by Imahara during the Great War, and to the Keizaikiseki (literally, "economy miracle") after the war, and to the laissez-faire economic stances taken by contemporary Senrian prime ministers.
National pride
The third of the sub-principles of statism is national pride (꼬꾸시만, kokuziman). This sub-principle ties back heavily to the principle of nationalism, restating many of its arguments regarding the necessity of maintaining Senrian national pride and Senrian nationalism. However, Imahara also stated that it related to "the ability of Senria to stand proudly on the global stage", which he linked to Senria's soft power and diplomatic influence. As a result, it is commonly connected to Senria's role in the Community of Nations (particularly in the CN Security Committee) and in GIFA, the founding of COMSED as a means to advance Senrian interests in Coius, and its role in the drafting of treaties such as the Treaty of Shanbally.
Republicanism
The third and final of the Three Principles is republicanism (꾜우외쑤기, kyouwasugi). Imahara argued that recent Senrian history had proved that aristocratic and monarchic governments could not be trusted to adequately deliver on the duties of a state in the modern day:
The division and stagnation during the Tigoku period, in all fields except culture, makes abundantly clear the shortcomings of aristocratic government. And while monarchy worked exceptionally in ancient times, and can still sometimes thrive when in the correct hands, the chance is simply too high that monarchy ends up promoting the incapable, who are uninterested or incapable of protecting the independence, security, prosperity, and pride of the nation. And should such an individual end up in power, monarchy leaves remarkably little recourse for them to be contained or removed. The Senrian Revolution would not have happened if this were not the case, if misrule by three of the four monarchs this country has had since 1870 had not left us impoverished and at the mercy of both Euclean empires and Xiaodong, and if inability to rid ourselves of such misrule had not left the people with no recourse short of revolt.
— Katurou Imahara, "Republicanism", Three Principles for the Senrian Nation (1932)
Imahara contrasted this with republican government, whose mechanisms - most obviously the ballot box - would "provide the Senrian public with a means other than revolution to replace a government that failed to uphold its duties to the Senrian people". He also believed that these same mechanisms would give a ruling government a better idea as to whether or not they were fulfilling their duties, "easing the process of government and allowing for more efficient and beneficial action by those in power".
Imahara's personal commitment to this point has been a subject of substantial debate, particularly outside of Senria, with many historians and political analysts arguing he adopted it out of pragmatism, pointing to the political opportunism of the Reaping and to Imahara's illiberal rule as Prime Minister of Senria. Jeremy Danbridge, in his book The Myth of the Grand Marshal, wrote that "Imahara was aware that, in Senria's post-revolution political situation, it was functionally mandatory to claim to espouse republicanism, regardless of whether one actually believed in it... making it his third principle was a means both to assuage the general public with a great performative show of loyalty to the republican cause, and to deprive the Kyouwakai of exclusive claim to republican values". This hypothesis is controversial, however; Hanako di Lupo wrote that "Imahara's personal frustrations with Katuhito during the Senrian Revolution would have given him personal experience with exactly the sort of phenomena he uses to justify republicanism in Three Principles for the Senrian Nation", and Guillaume Desmoulins stated "those who claim Imahara did not truly believe in republicanism tend to conflate republicanism and liberalism... Imahara was a republican, but not a liberal republican".
Popular authority
The first sub-principle of republicanism is popular authority (민껀, minken). This principle is, at its core, similar to the Euclean concept of popular sovereignty, stating that Senria's national sovereignty ultimately lies with the Senrian people, who invest this sovereignty into the government and thus have the right to express their political wishes and to make sure that the government is acting in the public interest. Conversely, it is the duty of the Senrian state to listen to the Senrian people in order to verify that its actions are appropriate and effective, and from there determine how to proceed.
However, Imahara's writings on popular authority frequently emphasize that the people must "behave appropriately and proportionally and express their views in a proper fashion", which has been interpreted by some analysts as a shying-away from the concepts of right to protest and right to revolution by Imahara. In Three Principles for the Senrian Nation Imahara is largely ambiguous as to what is meant exactly by "a proper fashion" beyond the basic stipulation that the public expression must be proportionate to the government action which compels it; in speeches and policy, however, Imahara tended to emphasize the concept that the ideal means of citizen expression was through participation in party and government institutions such as the Senbunzikai, Aikoku Seinendan, and Koutoku'un. Historians such as Hasso Scholl and Juozapas Arisakas have taken this as emblematic of a fundamentally illiberal desire by Imahara to control or minimize dissent; however, Senrian historians and authors, like Keisuke Horikosi and Masaharu Itagaki, have typically framed it as a desire to preserve public order while simultaneously providing an outlet for popular expression.
Administrative authority
The second sub-principle of republicanism is administrative authority (시껀, ziken). This principle states that, once the Senrian people have vested their sovereignty into a republican government, the government and its officials hold the authority to govern as they deem appropriate, with the condition that they must remain committed to the interests of the Senrian nation. Imahara described the first and second sub-points of republicanism as being inextricable from each other, saying in a 1936 speech to high-ranking members of the Aikokutou that "popular authority and administrative authority cannot be separated... the Senrian nation has used its popular authority to bestow administrative authority upon us, and therefore we are tasked to do everything we find necessary for the sake of the Senrian nation". Imahara also stated that, once administrative authority had been vested in a government, it was the duty of the Senrian people, collectively and as individuals, to follow that government's laws and orders so long as they continued to advance the national interest.
In his book The End of Politics, Albert Kavagamu described administrative authority as "a codification of a sort of non-pluralist, non-liberal republicanism emblematic of Southern democracy", writing that:
Administrative authority states that once the Senrian people have vested power in a government, that government is able to do, for all intents and purposes, whatever it deems necessary for the Senrian nation. This emphasis on the right of the government to exercise power as it sees fit, combined with the emphasis on "appropriate behavior" in the preceding sub-point, paints a distinctly illiberal picture. The Senrian people, in the Imaharist perspective, have fulfilled their role in vesting their power in the bureaucracy, military, and party; it is now the privilege and right of these institutions to act as they please, so long as they claim their actions are for the sake of the Senrian nation... This is yet another way in which Senria transparently, openly exhibits the telltale marks of a Southern democracy.
— Albert Kavagamu, The End of Politics (1999)
[thoughts from people other than kavagamu]
Constitutional rule
[(껀뽀우쎄, Kenpousei) - the structure of the government must be protected from frivolous or dangerous changes by the implementation of a national constitution; obvious tie-in to the senrian constitution, whose drafting imahara oversaw]
Other components
Economic policy
[very liberal economically; laissez-faire regulatory stance, antiprotectionism, to a certain extent a support for vertical and horizontal integration; a very fraternal gov't-business relationship (maybe even open support for gov't-business collaboration/collusion?)]
Social policy
[generally emphasizes social moral norms and roles]
Women and children
[women are emancipated but encouraged to continue doing traditional women things regardless; keiko minamoto quote - "The most natural place for the woman is in the home; but it is not the only place, and should the fatherland need the passion, the determination, the wisdom, or the strength of its women, it shall not turn them away"]
[tbd stance on children]
Burakumin rights
[burakumin are emancipated as they too are part of the proud senrian nation]
Ethnic minorities
[during imahara's day, heavy emphasis on centralization and senrianization meant that minority rights were often denied, or that minorities were told they were misguided senrians]
[this loosens up *slightly* in the 60s and 80s, and moreso in the 2000s, before backsliding a little in the 2010s]
Foreign affairs
[imaharism vis-a-vis COMSED, senria's relations with euclea, senria's relations with xiaodong]
Defense
[militaristic, hukoku kyouhei; the military is of great importance given the threats of euclean imperialism fuckery and xiaodongese genocidal batshittery]
[imahara's emphasis on navy primacy, and on the air force, post-great war, are commonly considered part of imaharism; the doctrine of "if xiaodong ever lands here again, then we have already failed"]
Religion
[as a part of senrian culture, Tenkyou is very important; as a result of this, even though senria is formally secular, tenkyou institutions often get gov't support on the grounds of being cultural institutions in addition to religious ones; in imahara's time the gov't tended to favor those traditions that were more wholly senrian-origin over those that were foreign-influenced, but this was applied very inconsistently to begin with and later dropped on the grounds of "well they mixed so it's a unique senrian mix now"]
Status today
[as the doctrine of the aikokutou into the present, remains paramount in senrian society; though its exact interpretation has changed under subsequent leaders, the core tenets are functionally unchallengeable in modern senrian society]
Influence
[any foreign ideologies influenced or inspired by imaharism?]
Criticism
[outline criticism of the various points here; that it's illiberal, senrian chauvinist, that he never really believed in the third point, etc.]