"State Monopoly of Postal Services in the Formation of Modern State"
LEE Peijung
last update: 20151224
State Monopoly of Postal Services in the Formation of Modern State
LEE Peijung
Abstract:
Recently the arguments for and against the postal privatization have been prevailing. However, while
discussing the right and the wrong on the privatization itself, this article puts its main emphasis on these
issues: Why have postal services become government-run enterprise and how has the national integration been
achieved through such postal services?
Historically speaking, the postal services were run in a non-monopolistic form for some centuries. However,
such non-monopoly postal services were changed to state monopoly in the 19th century. Is the state monopoly
of the postal business derived from the natural result of the monopoly in economic term or something else? By
answering the question, the article tries to find out the probable reasons that make such a transformation of
postal services.
In a word, the article aims to clarify the role of postal services on the process of the formation of modern
nation state in Japan. That is, in order to unveil the fundamentals of postal privatization, it is necessary to
review the role and the purposes of the state monopoly of postal services first in a historical perspective.
Keywords: State monopoly, Formation of modern nation state, National integration, Postal history, Modern postal services
REV: 20151224