The majority of the interest for Marie-Jean-Antoine-Nicolas de Caritat, Marquis de Condorcet (1743-1794), has been focused on his work in mathematics and political science, especially on his famous method on voting tally. With a background in the French enlightenment, on the brink of the revolution, this essay focuses on his political and philosophical ideas, specially his thoughts on the role of education in humanity’s struggle toward greater freedom. Is it possible to identify a connection between the concepts of education and freedom in his writings? This question is largely unanswered, even though it is fundamental for the understanding of the underlying reasoning of Condorcet. It is this gap that this essay intends to fill. By analyzing Condorcet’s essays, the Sketch and On Freedom, using Quentin Skinner’s contextual method, the essay aims to explore Condorcet’s reasoning on the two concepts, and tries to identify whether or not a connection between them exists. The study finds that there is a connection between education and freedom present in the writings of Condorcet, and it is clear that he has a very structured view of the two concepts, respectively. The distinction between instruction and education is especially central in his essays and the identified link between education and freedom.

Akademisk avhandling--Lund. / Bibliography: p. 339-351.

Diss.-Lausanne. / "Principaux ouvrages consultés": p. [5]-8. "Sources à consulter pour connaître la pensée de Voltaire sur quelques sujets religieux": p. [202]-210.

Abstract of Thesis--Catholic University of America. / Includes bibliographical references.

The current democratization developments and the need to adequately protect freedom of expression and media freedom in Africa have ushered in significant constitutional and legislative changes in the continent. As such, the adoption of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights constitutes significant machinery for entrenching the liberty of the individuals and a trend in the fight against human rights violations, but how effective are these changes, at the regional and local levels? This thesis critically analyses these developments with a view to finding new constitutional and legislative provisions that facilitate freedom of expression and media freedom within the context of Article 9 of the Africa Charter. While tracing the history of human rights in Africa, the thesis articulates the importance of freedom of expression and consensus democracy in Africa's political and cultural traditions, the early socio-political and ideological history, and its colonial past. Furthermore, the thesis highlights Africa's entrenched political and cultural traditions that promote human rights in general and freedom of expression in particular, although some African communitarian principles might be considered anachronistic and anti-democratic. This research is concerned about the impact of African governments' criminal penalties for defamatory statements and policies restricting the legitimate exercise of the right to freedom of expression. These coercive measures in light of the intolerant culture in African politics are often used to deprive citizens and the media their right to freedom of expression and valuable information which merited legitimate public concern. While we acknowledge that media activities and freedom of expression may be restricted in order to protect reputation, private life, public order, public health, public morality, public safety and national security, as enshrined in Article 27 (2) of the African Charter, the thesis is, however, concerned at the broad reach of several of the restrictive measures that have been enacted by arbitrary governments in which there is a very limited basis of public debate or competitive politics to buttress the freedom of the media. On the attainment of political independence, most of the African states adopted constitutions enshrining bills of rights justiciable by the courts. Despite these bills of rights, many of the African states have been guilty of gargantuan crimes and human rights violations. Despite the ratification of international and regional instruments dealing with the right to freedom of expression and information, African political leaders continue to misapply and misinterpret Article 9 (2) of the ACHPR because of its vagueness and continue to rely on criminal defamation statutes and the like to suppress critical and dissenting views. These broadly phrased prohibitions encouraged by the poor drafting of Article 9 (2) of the Charter, criminalise the legitimate exercise of freedom of expression and have a real “chilling effect” on debate on matters of public interest. The main conclusion of the thesis is that while most recent African constitutional developments offer promises of free expression and democratic accountability, there are persistent problems that need to be addressed as part of the overall democratization process. For example, there is the need to abrogate anachronistic criminal defamation statutes and insult laws in many African countries, put an end to the use of extralegal and coercive measures in the state's relation with the media, as well as a need for opposition political parties' contribution in parliament without government interference. Judicial independence, awareness of international standards on freedom of expression and information, equitable access to government media, journalistic morality and professionalism are other problems highlighted in the thesis.

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Philosophy / Master / Master of Philosophy

This thesis analyses the question of the regulation, motivated by egalitarian concerns, of homophobic hate speech and homosexual pornography. I attempt to . critically evaluate what both liberal humanism and postmodernism can tell us about these types of speech, and how we should best treat them, in a framework that takes lesbians' and gays' equality as the underlying organising principle. Although homosexual pornography cannot be convincingly exempted from regulation by affirming that it is not, contrary to heterosexual pornography, implicated in gender oppression, the importance of free speech and the complexity of all pornography messages suggest that the state is not justified in suppressing sex expression relying on the reification of a single viewpoint about its harmfulness. The Law, in limiting pornography on the basis of the radical feminist rationale that assimilates it to hate speech, ends up making strong and arbitrary claims to truth, that are premised on doubtful assumptions, silence alternative knowledges, subjugate outsiders' experiences, and contribute to the creation of oppressive social identities. I advise against censoring pornography out of egalitarian concerns, and argue that, under certain conditions, engagement with court litigation and the deployment of the rights discourse can be promising strategies for lesbians and gay men challenging such obscenity laws. Hate speech seems more evidently linked to discrimination than pornography, and speech act theory suggests that it enacts a specific kind of subordination. However, the role played by homophobic hate speech in perpetuating inequality for queers is limited when compared to other social/discursive practices: thus hate speech laws are the easiest but also, taken on their own, a largely ineffective way of responding to homophobia. As such, these laws bear a presumption of being an unnecessary burden on freedom of expression, a liberty that minorities have a vested interest in keeping as intact as possible. Against homophobia a radical measure is required that, focusing on education, will actively promote equality values. This remedy will be consistent with free speech doctrine to the extent that hate speech will, setting apart some specific cases, escape regulation, and that the State will assume an attitude directed to reaching understanding.

The purpose of this thesis is to contribute to the empirical research on how institutions of economic freedom affect country levels of entrepreneurship. Whilst the concept of economic freedom has been much applied in other areas of macroeconomics research, there are only a few studies of its effect on entrepreneurship. By analyzing 2011 data on a country sample of 48 countries representing various regions and stages of economic development, this thesis complement previous research with a larger and more recent country sample. Similarly to previous studies, self-employment data is used to obtain a proxy measure of entrepreneurship. However, in this thesis an attempt is made to elaborate this measure, and it is taken into account whether the choice of self-employment was based on opportunity or necessity. The results of a set of Ordinary Least-Square regressions do not support the hypotheses of a positive relationship between sub-components of economic freedom and entrepreneurship. Neither is the composite measure of economic freedom found to be statistically significant as a determinant of entrepreneurship. These results are contradictory to previous studies on this topic as well as the theoretical foundation of economic freedom.

Freedom of expression is one of the most important rights protected under the Constitution. It is as a pre-condition of the enjoyment of all other rights (except, may be the right to life). The right of freedom of expression is the mouthpiece of all other rights, without which all other rights are as good as dead. Freedom of expression has been found to be of importance for several reasons:- the search for truth rationale; the political process rationale; individual self-fulfilment. Despite its resonance, freedom of expression is not absolute in South Africa. It is limited by other equally important fundamental rights contained in the Constitutional document, such as the right to equality, dignity and privacy. The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa makes it clear that some forms of expression that have racial connotations are not worthy of Constitutional protection 'from the word go'. These types of expression have the potential to debase the foundations upon which our constitution is premised. They show total disregard to the values of human dignity, the achievement of equality and the advancement of human rights. / Thesis (LLM) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2004

Freedom of expression is one of the most important rights protected under the Constitution. It is as a pre-condition of the enjoyment of all other rights (except, may be the right to life). The right of freedom of expression is the mouthpiece of all other rights, without which all other rights are as good as dead. Freedom of expression has been found to be of importance for several reasons :- the search for truth rationale; the political process rationale; individual self-fulfilment. Despite its resonance, freedom of expression is not absolute in South Africa. It is limited by other equally important fundamental rights contained in the Constitutional document, such as the right to equality, dignity and privacy. The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa makes it clear that some forms of expression that have racial connotations are not worthy of Constitutional protection 'from the word go'. These types of expression have the potential to debase the foundations upon which our constitution is premised. They show total disregard to the values of human dignity, the achievement of equality and the advancement of human rights. / (LLM) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2004