World Federalism in the Early Postwar Thought of Kagawa Toyohiko

This paper examines Christian socialist Kagawa Toyohiko, with a focus on his evolving ideas about world federalism. From his involvement with cooperatives in the Taisho period until his advocacy of world federalism immediately after World War II, Kagawa sought alternatives to capitalist society and the Westphalian system of international relations. After World War II, his support for Japan as the center of an Asian federation was, in certain ways, enigmatic given Japan’s recent past in Asia during the war.