Appearance on” Is Democracy in Decline? Implications for the Indo-Pacific Regional Order”
On November 24, 2023, Keio Center for Strategy presented a video of a dialogue program entitled “Is Democracy in Decline? Implications for the Indo-Pacific Regional Order,” a video of a dialogue program featuring Professor Maiko Ichihara of the Graduate School of Law. The dialogue program discusses the present and future of global democracy and its implications for the Indo-Pacific region. Professor Ichihara noted that since 2006 there has been a phenomenon known as “democratic recession” and that the Indo-Pacific region is unique in that it is home to different types of political regimes, ranging from outright dictatorships such as North Korea and China to relatively resilient democracies such as Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. She also noted that influence operations by authoritarian countries, which seek to distort information to persuade other countries to take action or change policy, are only considered effective when the target country’s society is divided. She pointed out that China and Russia are the main actors in influence operations, but that the two countries tend to use very different methods, and that the recent spread of disinformation about the discharge of treated water in Japan suggests that China is increasingly using methods similar to those used by Russia. She further commented that while there are many things Japan can do to defend democracy against influence operations, one of the most important things for Japanese society and the Japanese government to do is to successfully bridge the divide, not only in Japanese society but also in the societies of other countries.
