The three Articles that comprise this Dissertation explore how free expression and judicial federalism regulate hurtful speech and promised silence. The Articles tackle torts and free speech, contracts and free speech, and a comparative variation on those two themes. Judicial federalism threads all three Articles. The first Article, Silencing State Courts, argues that the current mode of enforcing the First Amendment against state common law speech torts fails to promote cooperative judicial federalism. Second, Silence for Sale argues that state courts should free themselves from constitutional straitjackets and recognize a robust public policy of free expression that voids some nondisclosure agreements. Finally, Comparative Judicial Federalism argues that the strength of a federal free speech guarantee varies with a country's particular species of judicial federalism. By comparing free speech and judicial federalism in the United States and Australia, it argues that Australia’s judicial federalism augments its implied freedom of political communication.

<p>The aim of this bachelor thesis is to make a theoretical analysis of the democratic development in the Iraqi Kurdistan and to distinguish its democratic character. It has occurred a radical change in the political structure after the Kurdish uprising in the northern region of Iraq in relation with the Kuwaiti war in 1991. The situation in the Kurdish region became more and more acute when they where exposed of international sanctions mandated under UN and economic embargo by the Baghdad regime. This political vacuum led ironically to the establishment of the political institutions in the region. The theoretical framework is constructed thru the democratic theory presented in Robert Dahls discussion of polyarki and Arend Lijpharts theory of consociational democracy. Thus my method of this thesis is a qualitative case-study research. The empirical sources contain one interview and the rest is different types of documents. The result of the study shows that the Kurdish democracy contains elements of polyarki and consociational democracy, but it fails on the fundamental democratic principle: freedom of speech. Even though there are insufficiencies in the freedom of speech, the Kurdish democracy can be classified as a developing democracy.</p>

Thesis (Ed. D.)--Lehigh University, 2006. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 217-223).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2006. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 214-225).

Cable TV refers to the transmission of visual and audio signals to the public by laying cables. Article 5 of the Cable Radio and Television Law says: ¡§System operators installing the networks themselves shall apply to the roads authority for approval if the networks are to be laid underground¡K¡¨ The roads authority on the regional level is the Township Office. Road right granted by the roads authority is usually valid for one year. Cable TV is a licensed business; business licenses issued by the Government Information Office, Executive Yuan are in 9-year term. Although it is subject to the restrictions and regulations of the same laws as public utilities, the business does not enjoy the deserved protection. Hence, system operators often come across setbacks in their operation, which are undoubtedly potential threats to their survival and development. However, contrasting this to the development history of Taiwan¡¦s cable TV industry, it seems from the result that the government institution has played a critical role. Importance of the government¡¦s initiative to moderately liberalize the public goods for creation of an open environment, and to put more emphasis on the overall system planning for the industry development at different stages is beyond words. This study not only analyzes the impact of the Cable Radio and Television Law and regional laws on the system, but also takes real-life examples into consideration, to explain the importance of public interest and freedom of speech for liberalization of routing rights. The question is tackled in different approaches and from different viewpoints, in order to understand the problems and difficulties that system operators face when applying for routing rights from the Township Office. The study expects to provide some positive assistance and suggestions to the industry and the government, for avoidance of improper market intervention.

Freedom of speech has been a well discussed subject. Great philosophers and theoretics like Plato, Voltaire, Locke and Mill have again and again showed the importance of freedom of speech. Since the world have become bystanders to a series of events that can only classify as crimes aganst freedom of speech, it has become more important to study the phenomenon and analyse it. By finding cases where the freedom of speech has been compromised and analyse them in frames of three different theories, the argument of truth, the argument of democracy and the argument of tolerance, this paper makes the boundaries of freedom of speech a little clearer, and also makes a discussion about how reasonable the boundaries are possible. Everything according to the three theories.

The study should be seen as an attempt to examine how a group of selected muslims from seven different cities in Sweden relate to Lars Vilks’s drawings of the prophet Muhammed (also called the roundabout dog) and if they feel that their attitude towards the drawings has changed during the seven years that have passed since the first drawing was published in the newspaper Närkes Allehanda in 2007. To understand these selected muslims’ approach, experiences and feelings in regards to the drawings I examine in what aspect they find the drawings provocative. I also examine what consequences Vilks’s roundabout dog-project might have had  for individual muslims in Sweden. The result portrays their individual reactions, experiences, feelings, views and thoughts on Vilks’s roundabout dog-project. The answers from the informants have been analyzed and discussed based on hermeneutic research theory. The informants own recount and the following analysis the study contributes to the understanding of the facts behind the perceived provocation of the images of the prophet Muhammad.

This thesis provides an overview over the existing and emerging correlation of the Internet and Human Rights with the main focus on the human right to freedom of expression. It looks at how freedom of expression is protected and curtailed at the same time by regulation in the global context and nationally and how it could be protected in the future. Firstly, it will address general issues and problems connected with the Internet and Human Rights, like equal access to the new technology, and terrorism and the defence of freedom. It will look at the relationship of freedom of expression and other human rights, especially the right to privacy. Secondly, it will examine the applicability of international human rights agreements and the opportunities offered by them. It will also look at the possibility of drafting a new piece of international legislation and the effectiveness of national regulation. Although in some areas international consensus may be easier to achieve, for example in many aspects of criminal law enforcement, it is unrealistic to expect that countries with different cultural values will agree upon a single set of rules for the whole world. International harmonisation strategies are clearly an important response to the jurisdictional difficulties of Internet regulation, but they can't be the ultimate and single solution. But national regulation faces its problems, too. Due to the character of the Internet as a transnational medium and its borderless flow of information the nation state only has limited possibilities to effectively regulate the Internet within its borders and it has to accept a loss of sovereignty in cyberspace. Although regulation in some areas may be effective, complete control is impossible which will be shown. Thirdly, it will consider the different approaches that are available to regulate and control content on the Internet, their effectiveness and their influence on the human right to freedom of expression. It will illustrate in various examples in form of case studies the difficulties of Internet regulation. It will also provide an overview over selfrating schemes and filtering and blocking software and the problems connected with them. The liability of Internet Service Providers will be examined and alternatives to government control of the Internet will be discussed.

Anthropologists have frequently used music in general and popular music in particular as a means to gain a perspective into everyday realities of young Africans lives. Attempting to place myself amongst this range of researchers, I use the position of Rwandan hip-hop as a point of departure to examine how young men in Kigali relate to and shape their realities in terms of politics, freedom of expression, and the creation of space and opportunities in the Rwandan society. My study is based on two and a half months of fieldwork in Kigali during the period between August and October of 2013. The empirical material upon which my arguments rely consists of interviews with young hip-hop Rwandans located in Kigali, who were almost exclusively male. It is also drawn from classical anthropological methods of participant observations and daily partaking in the lives of my informants. My analytical understanding of this material is mainly based upon notions of agency and structure, and contextualized within contemporary Africanist scholars’ research on modern music and youth. By looking at the historical context of Rwanda, the current state of youth in Kigali, and the contemporary atmosphere of politics and hip-hop music, I seek to understand the contradictive role of music as an arena for youth to express themselves. Through the stories of young hip-hop men, I describe and communicate their perceptions of constrains related to historical and socio-political sensitivities, feelings of fear connected to outspokenness, and alternative means to voice their opinions. I illustrate how these young men use innovative strategies and metaphorical language as a way to negotiate with some of these constrains as well as to influence each other and embody senses of oppositional opinions and collective empowerment. I also examine how national politics and governmental initiatives have increasingly become intertwined with the music and how it is trying to take advantage of its attractiveness as a youth medium. Ultimately, I discuss how the impact of Rwandan hip-hop can be seen as double-ended, serving the interests of both governmental policies and the youth who in different ways are trying to liberate themselves from political constrains, and how this affect the empowering potential of the music.

The problem of any political system is that the principles which underlie and characterize it might also, through their application, endanger it and bring about its destruction. Democracy is no exception. Moreover, because democracy is a relatively young phenomenon, it lacks experience in dealing with pitfalls involved in the working of the system. This is what I call the "catch" of democracy. The primary aims of this research are (1) to formulate percepts and mechanisms designed to prescribe boundaries to liberty and tolerance conducive to safeguard democracy; and (2) in the light of the theory to analyze a case of a democratic selfdefence. Hence, I employ the formulated philosophical principles to the study of the Israeli democracy, evaluating the political and legal measures to which it resorted in its struggle against Kahanism. In the first part of the thesis I examine two of the main arguments which are commonly offered as answers to the question: 'why tolerate?' The first is the 'Respect for Others Argument', and the second is the 'Argument from Truth'. I introduce some qualifications to these arguments, asserting that our primary obligation should be given to the first, and that in case of conflict between the two principles, this former principle should have preference over the latter. Through the review of the Millian theory and some more recent theories I try to prescribe confines to liberty. With regard to freedom of expression, I state two arguments: the first under the Harm Principle, and the second under the Offence Principle. Under the Harm Principle I argue that restrictions on liberty may be prescribed when there are sheer threats of immediate violence against some individuals or groups. Under the Offence Principle I explicate that expressions which intend to inflict psychological offence are morally on a par with physical harm and therefore there are grounds for abridging them. In this connection, I review the Illinois Supreme Court decision, which permitted the Nazis to hold a demonstration in Skokie. Moving from theory to practice, in the second part I apply the theory and the conclusions reached to the Israeli democracy, observing its struggle against the Kahanist phenomenon as it has been developed through the last two decades, and increasingly following the election of Meir Kahane to the Knesset in 1984. I examine the mechanisms applied in this anti-'Kach' (Kahane's party) campaign, the justifications given for the limitations that were set, and how justified they were, according to the formulated philosophical and legal guidelines.