在近代天皇制下，政治权威与道德价值融合于天皇一身，日本国民是天皇的“臣民”。日本战败后，驻日盟军总司令部在日本推行民主化改革，其目的之一便是去除“臣民”这一枷锁，使天皇成为日本国家与国民统合的象征。天皇制的留存与民主化改革是同一过程的两个方面。日本政府在维护天皇制的同时，也在思索如何应对战后民主化改革的要求。战后初期，日本各届内阁试图通过重新解释“国体”，使天皇制适应民主化改革的要求。以新宪法草案发布为界，各届内阁对“国体”与民主的理解大致经历了“‘国体’的民主化”与“民主的‘国体’化”两个发展阶段。最终吉田内阁将“国体”重新解释为国民对天皇的感情，承认了政治与法律上的民主化改革成果。与此同时，感情化的“国体”解释掩盖了反思天皇地位的可能性，也使国民的主体性保留了“国体”化的可能性。
Under the modern imperial system，political authority and moral values were integrated into the Emperor，and Japanese citizens（Kokumin） were the emperor’s “subjects”（Shinmin）. One of the important purposes of the democratization reforms implemented by GHQ after the defeat of the war was to remove this shackle and make the Emperor a symbol of the unity of the Japanese state and the Japanese people. The preservation of the imperial system and the democratization reform were two aspects of the same process. While maintaining the imperial system，the Japanese government was also thinking about the way to deal with the requirements of post-war democratization reform，trying to make the imperial system adapt to the democratization reform by reinterpreting the “national polity”（Kokutai）. The cabinets’ understanding of “Kokutai” and democracy was bounded by the release of the new draft constitution. There were two stages of “democratization of Kokutai” and “using Kokutai to interpret democracy”. In the end，the Yoshida Cabinet reinterpreted the “Kokutai” as the people’s affection towards the Emperor，and acknowledged political and legal democratization reforms. Meanwhile，the emotional interpretation of the “Kokutai” conceals the possibility of reflecting on the status of the Emperor，and also allows the subjectivity of the people to retain the moment of “Kokutai”.
