Yttrandefrihetens dilemman : Debatten om hetspropaganda, mediekoncentration samt personlig integritet mellan 1940- och 2000-tal

• This thesis focuses on different types of value conflicts that have been actualized by proposals of legislation on freedom of speech. The thesis analyses three different debates which each relate to a different type of value conflict. An important objective of the study is to discern what fundamental values underlie the concern for upholding freedom of speech in a democratic society. Those fundamental values have been formulated as three type-arguments: the argument from democracy, the argument from truth, and the argument from autonomy respectively. The first type of free speech dilemma is represented by the debate around a legal clause on the prohibition of racist hate speech. The second type of free speech dilemma is illustrated by the debate on the concentration of the Swedish media. The third type of dilemma concerns the conflict between the law against the spreading of information regarding the individual on the Internet, and the constitutional right of information. The findings of the thesis includes that the argument from democracy has been the most prominently invoked in the debates. However, most often the argument from democracy is used in a rather unprecise manner, and there occurs a quite frequent conflation of the concept of democracy with several other values considered important, e.g. the right not to be discriminated against. The prospects of finding a “unified” free speech theory in which all the type-arguments for free speech can be brought together does not seem good. The arguments for free speech are interdependent and can be ultimately assessed only in the context of a broader theory of the democratic system. Here it is argued that the theory of “deliberative democracy” in comparison with rival conceptions of democracy offers some valuable tools for a better interpretation of the conception of the right to free speech in a democratic system.

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Statsvetenskap -- Statsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Political Science -- Political Science (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Political science

Freedom of speech

Freedom of information

Hate speech

Media concentration

Personal integrity

Rights

Truth

Autonomy

Value conflicts

Deliberative democracy

Statsvetenskap

Political science

Statsvetenskap

statskunskap

statskunskap

Publication and Content Type

vet (subject category)

dok (subject category)