Sukehiro Hasegawa Urges a Shift to a “We the People” UN at TEDxICU (20/12/2025)

At TEDxICU’s main event “ORBIT,” held at International Christian University (ICU) on December 20, 2025, Mr. Sukehiro Hasegawa—Special Professor at Kyoto University of the Arts and Vice Chair of the United Nations Association of Japan—delivered a talk arguing that the root causes of interstate war lie in today’s Westphalian international system.

Hasegawa stated that the UN, as it operates today, is often shaped by the preferences of a small number of powerful states—what he described as a “We the States” UN—making it ill-equipped to solve the complex challenges facing humanity. He called for transforming the organization into a genuinely people-centered UN, a “We the People” UN that reflects the voices of individuals, in line with the UN Charter Preamble’s opening “We the Peoples.”

He also offered his own analysis of Japan’s Meiji Restoration as a historical example of profound transformation, and presented concrete proposals for structural reform toward a “new United Nations.”

（Reported by Keitoku IKEGAMI)