Historism and liberalism in Japan

Naoshi Yamawaki

pp. 152-170

in: Peter Koslowski (ed), The theory of ethical economy in the historical school, Berlin, Springer, 1995

Abstract

Despite the collapse of so-called communism in Eastern Europe, it would be still too rash, even superficial, to see a final victory for Western liberalism or market economy as people like Francis Fukuyama have already declared¹. On the contrary, the various types of liberalism and market economy today compete with each other as P. Koslowski emphasises² or the title of the book Capitalisme contre Capitalisme (M. Albert) suggests³. It is therefore very timely and pertinent to begin rethinking of the potential of the German Historical School, which, despite forming an influential current of economic and social thought before World War II both in Germany and Japan, has since then been totally neglected due to the dominance of Anglo-American neo-classical economics in the developed countries, including Germany and Japan.