Since the end of the Second World War, Japan has been one of a tiny handful of countries that have surrendered the right to wage war.

Article 9 of its constitution proclaims, “Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes... The right of belligerency of the state will not be recognised.”

But those who embrace pacifism are apt to find themselves beset by others who are happy to brandish fire and the sword. And Japan shares an extraordinarily dangerous geopolitical neighbourhood with totalitarian states such as China, North Korea, and Russia.

In 2007, the then-Prime Minister Shinzō Abe called for a “bold review” of Article 9 and Japan’s place in the international system. Japan’s current Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, appears to be following Abe Doctrine.

He has proclaimed that globalisation and economic interdependence have bolstered authoritarian regimes, and left democracies hostage to them. Kishida has, therefore, called on free societies to create a “new world order” to reduce our exposure to, and dependence on, anti-democratic states and non-state actors.

What would such a “new world order” look like? Is it already too late for the world’s democracies to sever the tentacles of totalitarian states? And would the efforts to create such an order make the world safer or hasten the very conflicts it seeks to avoid?

We are delighted to have Professor Jacob Kovalio with us today, to discuss these and other questions.

Prof Kovalio serves at Carleton University in Ottawa. He is a researcher, writer, and teacher of Modern Japanese Political and Diplomatic History and its broader links to Asia and the world. He worked in Japan for over six years, and travelled and lectured throughout East Asia. He was honoured with the Foreign Minister of Japan’s Commendation and with the Order of the Rising Sun Gold Rays with Rosettes.

⁂

Alex will moderate the written discussion thread, and will put a representative cross-section of questions and comments to our guest. Please be sure to contribute your thoughts to the thread that accompanies this Talk. Alex leads some of Reddit’s largest communities, including r/WorldNews, r/News, r/Politics, and r/Geopolitics. His handle at Reddit is u/dieyoufool3.

Willian will support the Talk. He leads a range of Reddit communities, including r/WorldNews, r/AskLatinAmerica, r/Brazil, and r/Europe. He tweets at @Tetizera.

I, Akaash, will moderate the spoken conversation. Outside Reddit, I serve as Ambassador-at-Large for the Global Organization of Parliamentarians Against Corruption, and as a Senior Fellow at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs. I tweet at @AkaashMaharaj and I am on Instagram at @AkaashMaharaj.

⁂

Prof Jacob Kovalio

• Web site: freeandopenindopacific.net

It has been forty-five days since Mahsa Amini, a 22 year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman, died in police custody in Iran. She had been arrested by Iran’s religious morality police for not wearing the hijab, as required by the state. Eyewitnesses report that police beat her viciously before her death.

Her death has unleashed waves of mass protests across Iran, often under the slogan “Women, Life, Freedom”, and often led by young women. The government of Iran has responded with repression, and by cutting off internet access in the province of Kurdistan.

Many observers are asking if this could be the beginning of a new phase of mass repression by the Iranian state, or the beginning of the end for the Iranian regime.

We are delighted to have Dorsa Jabbari with us to discuss the protests, their impact in Iran, and the potential consequences across the world.

Dorsa Jabbari was born in Iran and immigrated to Canada at the age of ten. She completed a Bachelor degree in English and Fine Art History from the University of Toronto. After five years working at CTV, Canada’s largest private television network, Dorsa moved to Qatar, to join the launch of Al Jazeera English. She returned to Iran in 2010, to work as Al Jazeera’s primary correspondent in the country.

She tweets at @DorsaJabbari

⁂

Alex will moderate the written discussion thread, and will put a representative cross-section of questions and comments to our guest. Alex leads some of Reddit’s largest communities, including r/WorldNews, r/News, r/Politics, and r/Geopolitics.

Willian will support the Talk. He leads a range of Reddit communities, including r/WorldNews, r/AskLatinAmerica, r/Brazil, and r/Europe. He tweets at @Tetizera.

I, Akaash, will moderate the conversation. Outside Reddit, I serve as Ambassador-at-Large for the Global Organization of Parliamentarians Against Corruption, and as a Senior Fellow at the University of Toronto’s School of Global Affairs. At Reddit, I lead the r/Equestrian community. I tweet at @AkaashMaharaj and I am on Instagram at @AkaashMaharaj.

⁂

Dorsa Jabbari

• Web site: At Al Jazeera
• Twitter: @DorsaJabbari