Summary Professor Maiko Ichihara, GGR Researcher and a faculty member of the Graduate School of Law, participated in the Asahi World Forum 2022, which launched online on October 16, 2022. Based on interviews with French and German experts on the post-COVID period, Professor Ichihara discussed democracy and its future with other participants. Taking the Russian claim of annexation of the four Ukrainian provinces as an example, she further argued that in many regions there has been a trend of repressing freedom through the use of the legitimacy of elections. Moreover, she pointed out that it is important to learn from the past in order to understand the complexities of the modern world. Finally, Professor Ichihara stated that as new values emerge in the modern world, it is important for Japan to proactively promote democracy rather than to rely on allies such as the United States to do so.