『公車上書』 이후 강유위의 프로이센 유형의 兩院制 의회설립 구상 ― ｢제4차상서｣에 나타난 양원제 의회제도를 중심으로 ―

초록

This paper has focused on the origin of the upper house system(namely Prussian upper house), which abruptly appears in the Fourth Memorial, and the method of its operation. Based on these, the acceptance of Prussian upper house system and reformists’ common perception on upper house are examined. The paper also conducts a multi-dimensional investigation of the actual features of Kang Youwei’s parliamentary system such as the process of transition from a lower house based system to a bicameral chamber based one, the method of election and operation, which appears in the Fourth Memorial. The original source of the upper house system, which reformists like Kang Youwei designed during the Reform Movement, was the Prussian model which operated under a bureaucrat-based upper house system. After 1853, Prussian type upper house system, for which the emperor appointed most of the members, was not too different from the political system of the Qing Dynasty at the time, and therefore, it was a valid, strategic choice minimizing features that may be seen as challenges to the emperor’s authority and relieving the opposition of conservative officials. Kang Youwei, who had been insisting for only a popularly elected lower house in Gongche Shangshu and the Third Memorial, the most radical assertion at the time, suddenly begins to assert for the establishment of bicameral parliamentary system that includes upper house system in the Fourth Memorial. The submission of the Fourth Memorial was approximately two months after the signing of the Treaty of Shimonoseki. Even though there was not a significant transition in the political environment of Qing Dynasty at the time, a slight change is made in Kang’s blueprint of reform during that short period. He submitted the Third Memorial mentioned earlier when he was Jinshi, the degree he acquired when he passed the Civil exam in May 6th, 1895. Earning Jinshi degree must have been a very encouraging event for Kang Youwei and such change in his social position seem to have also caused a change in his subject of interest in politics. In other words, he turned his eyes from the popular election, Xiang guan, and the establishment of local parliamentary system at the county level or provincial level to reformation of the political system of the central government and the establishment of central parliamentary system. The background that stimulated his plan for the establishment of bicameral parliamentary system was the unexpected high appraisal from the Guangxu Emperor. It is evident that Guangxu Emperor’s unexpected consent to the Reformation provided Kang Youwei favorable conditions for driving his Reformation, but Guangxu Emperor’s position and setting the Emperor’s relationship with the officials became new factors to consider. In other words, he sought a breakthrough with the establishment of the upper house system as a way to ease implementing popularly elected lower house and reducing tension between the emperor and officials. In adding the upper house system in the Fourth Memorial, Kang Youwei focused his reasoning on deemphasizing what may be considered as challenges to the emperor’s authority by highlighting the power to appoint the members of the upper house and the right to veto during the decision making process. Also, Kang Youwei’s suggestion of giving limited power to recommend members of the upper house to senior officials of Hanlim Academy, high-ranking officials and Zhouxian can be seen as a strategic choice made to ease the opposition from high-ranking officials in the last period of Qing Dynasty. In other words, Piguanguwen—which consists of ‘direct election’ of the popularly elected parliament, literary chamberlains of Hanlim Academy, ones whom the great officers and county simultaneously recommended to post, and those who submitted memorials—imitated the Prussian upper house organization that was introduced from the West, and it is clear that it was a modern upper house organization that included Kang’s innovative suggestions (‘those who submitted memorials’ for example). Not only that, Piguanguwen was his first plan for establishing the upper house that contained details like its method for election, its role, and so on. Kang planned for a bicameral parliamentary system that combined the upper house organization (Piguanguwen) with the popularly elected lower house organization (kaimen jiyi) which elected a member per 100,000 households in a unit of county-city (Junyi).

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