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The binding roots of free speech

This thesis argues that the modern notion of free-speech was born within the Westphalian nation-state. It suggests that the legal rights framework - particular to the Westphalian nationstate - not only legitimizes and legalizes the right to free-speech, but also enables us to invoke legally the necessary limitations that demand the limitation of free-speech in certain contexts. However, such a legal-rights framework is exclusive to the nation-state and cannot be enforced on an international level, outside of the nation-state boundary. With reference to examples on an international level, this thesis demonstrates that calls for the limitation of free-speech are indeed legitimate and necessary but cannot be enforced on an international level for the reasons just mentioned. In order to address this problem, this thesis proposes a framework - based on a Kantian model - that enables us to invoke the limitation of free-speech on an international level without appealing to a legal-rights discourse to do so.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:rhodes/vital:2849
Date January 2009
CreatorsBoughey, Thomas John George
PublisherRhodes University, Faculty of Humanities, Political and International Studies
Source SetsSouth African National ETD Portal
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis, Masters, MA
Format140 leaves, pdf
RightsBoughey, Thomas John George

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