Discussion in “Forum 2000: For a Democratic World Order”

On October 16, Professor Maiko Ichihara of the Graduate School of Law appeared in a panel, “The War in Ukraine and its Global Impact” in the international conference titled “Forum 2000: For a Democratic World Order” organized by Forum 2000. The panelists discussed what will happen in the world in the future, cooperation among democracies, and the role of the United Nations, as the effects of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the movement for a new international order becomes more apparent. Professor Ichihara pointed out that one positive element of Asia including Japan is the shared understanding that Ukraine cannot be given up because abandoning it would mean allowing revisionist authoritarian states such as Russia to change the status quo. On the other hand, one element of concern is that the framing of “democracy versus autocracy” remained impactful and gave an impression to the Global South that it was an ideological war. She discussed that we need to maintain liberal discourse in the international community while building good cooperative relations with other countries, including the Global South.