Abe reformed the shogunate from one that had traditionally been based on fudai daimyo (the daimyo in hereditary vassal to the Tokugawa family) to one that operated in cooperation with powerful domains, including those of Nariaki TOKUGAWA and Yoshinaga MATSUDAIRA and he also made Nariaki take an active role in the shogunate as an adviser for the coastal defense department.
阿部は、幕政を従来の譜代大名中心から雄藩（徳川斉昭、松平慶永ら）との連携方式に移行させ、斉昭を海防掛顧問（外交顧問）として幕政に参与させた。