Freedom of Speech Abridged?

Freedom of expression and freedom of the press has become an issue that creates controversies all over the world in a manner unthinkable at the beginning of the 21st century. Authoritarian regimes stifle free expression, and religious groups challenge its foundations. It is threatened even in democratic societies through escalated security measures passed under the pretext of securing just those basic liberties among which freedom of expression is central. These challenges are the backdrop for the publication Freedom of Speech Abridged?

The book discusses freedom of expression as a universal human right, and analyses its philosophical foundations. It raises legal questions arising from the tension between basic rights, and between national and international law. It considers to what extent freedom of expression thrives or withers in an increasingly gobalized world of new technology. It discusses the Danish cartoons from a principled perspective, and it draws the lines of today’s controversies back to the twenty-year-old fatwa against Salman Rushdie. Freedom of Speech Abridged? is written by scholars and journalists in the Nordic countries, and represents a principled and spirited defence of freedom of expression.

Content

Preface

The Contemporary Challenge to the Concept of Universal Human Rights and Freedom of Expression
Helge Rønning

Philosophy

What is the Value of Freedom of Speech?
Ulf Petäjä

Freedom of Expression and Freedom of Discourse. Examining a Justificatory Strategy
Cathrine Holst, Anders Molander

Law

International Challenges to National Law. Media Free Speech in Norway
Anine Kierulf

The Right to Privacy and Public Figures. On the Limits to Freedom of Expression
Oluf Jørgensen

Freedom of Expression in Sweden. The Rule of Formalism
Thomas Bull

Globalization and Cultural Perspectives

Anti-Terror Surveillance and Freedom of Expression
Joakim Hammerlin

Twenty Years On. The Lessons of the Fatwa against The Satanic Verses
Arne Ruth

Internet – A Challenge to Arab Regimes’ Control of Information. Yemen as a Case Study
Walid Al-Saqaf

Pressure on Press Freedom. The Current Religious War on Freedom of Expression
Frederik Stjernfelt

Lessons of Being Drawn In. On Global Free Speech, Communication Theory and the Mohammed Cartoons
Risto Kunelius

The Authors