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Free Speech: What Everyone Needs to Know? (WHAT EVERYONE NEEDS TO KNOW)
by Nadine StrossenAn engaging guide to the most important free speech rules, rationales, and debates, including the strongest arguments for and against protecting the most controversial speech, such as hate speech and disinformation. This concise but comprehensive book engagingly lays out specific answers to myriad topical questions about free speech law, and also general explanations of how and why the law distinguishes between protected and punishable speech. Free Speech provides the essential background for understanding and contributing to our burgeoning debates about whether to protect speech with various kinds of controversial content, such as hate speech and disinformation: the applicable legal tenets and the strongest arguments for and against them. The book focuses on modern First Amendment law, explaining the historic factors that propelled its evolution in a more speech-protective direction - in particular, the Civil Rights Movement. It highlights the many cases, involving multiple issues, in which robust speech-protective principles aided advocates of racial justice and other human rights causes. The book also shows how these holdings reflect universal, timeless values, which have been incorporated in many other legal systems, and have inspired countless thinkers and activists alike. Without oversimplifying the complexities of free speech law, the book's lively question-and-answer format summarizes this law in an understandable, interesting, and memorable fashion. It addresses the issues in a logical sequence, presenting colorful facts and eloquent language from landmark Supreme Court opinions. It will be illuminating to a wide range of readers, from those who know nothing about free speech law, to those who have studied it but seek a well-organized summary of major doctrinal rules, as well as insights into their background, rationales, and interconnections.
Free Speech and Censorship: A Documentary and Reference Guide (Documentary and Reference Guides)
by Cari Lee EastmanThis annotated document collection surveys the history and evolution of laws and attitudes regarding free speech and censorship in the United States, with a special emphasis on contemporary events and controversies related to the First Amendment.The United States' collective understanding of First Amendment freedoms was formed by more than 200 years of tensions between the power of word and the power of the government. During that time, major laws and legal decisions defined the circumstances and degree to which personal expression could be rightfully expressed—and rightfully limited.This struggle to define the parameters of free speech continues today. Vibrant and passionate debates about First Amendment limitations once inspired by the dissemination of birth control information now address such issues as kneeling during the national anthem, removing controversial books from public libraries, attempts by the Trump administration to discredit the press, and disseminating false or hateful information through social media platforms. By exploring diverse examples of censorship victories and triumphs of free expression, readers will better understand the enormous impact of First Amendment freedoms on American society.
Free Speech and Censorship: A Documentary and Reference Guide (Documentary and Reference Guides)
by Cari Lee EastmanThis annotated document collection surveys the history and evolution of laws and attitudes regarding free speech and censorship in the United States, with a special emphasis on contemporary events and controversies related to the First Amendment.The United States' collective understanding of First Amendment freedoms was formed by more than 200 years of tensions between the power of word and the power of the government. During that time, major laws and legal decisions defined the circumstances and degree to which personal expression could be rightfully expressed—and rightfully limited.This struggle to define the parameters of free speech continues today. Vibrant and passionate debates about First Amendment limitations once inspired by the dissemination of birth control information now address such issues as kneeling during the national anthem, removing controversial books from public libraries, attempts by the Trump administration to discredit the press, and disseminating false or hateful information through social media platforms. By exploring diverse examples of censorship victories and triumphs of free expression, readers will better understand the enormous impact of First Amendment freedoms on American society.
Free Speech and Censorship: Examining the Facts (Contemporary Debates)
by H. L. PohlmanThis book provides a comprehensive and impartial overview of laws and norms regarding free speech and censorship in the United States, with a particular focus on free speech rights and restrictions for individuals, politicians, corporations, and news organizations.Free Speech and Censorship: Examining the Facts is part of a series that uses evidence-based documentation to examine the veracity of claims and beliefs about high-profile issues in American culture and politics. This volume examines beliefs, claims, and myths about free speech and censorship issues in American society, including landmark court decisions and evolving cultural values that have shaped our understanding of the First Amendment and the liberties it enshrines and protects. Specific chapters in the volume explore basic principles of free speech; unprotected types of speech; conditionally protected speech; restrictions and regulations governing protected speech; free speech limitations in school settings; the corrosive impact of politicians and social media platforms that spread distortions and falsehoods under free speech pretexts; and free speech as a general cultural ideal. Together, these chapters will provide readers with a thorough and accurate grounding in their First Amendment rights and responsibilities.
Free Speech and Censorship: Examining the Facts (Contemporary Debates)
by H. L. PohlmanThis book provides a comprehensive and impartial overview of laws and norms regarding free speech and censorship in the United States, with a particular focus on free speech rights and restrictions for individuals, politicians, corporations, and news organizations.Free Speech and Censorship: Examining the Facts is part of a series that uses evidence-based documentation to examine the veracity of claims and beliefs about high-profile issues in American culture and politics. This volume examines beliefs, claims, and myths about free speech and censorship issues in American society, including landmark court decisions and evolving cultural values that have shaped our understanding of the First Amendment and the liberties it enshrines and protects. Specific chapters in the volume explore basic principles of free speech; unprotected types of speech; conditionally protected speech; restrictions and regulations governing protected speech; free speech limitations in school settings; the corrosive impact of politicians and social media platforms that spread distortions and falsehoods under free speech pretexts; and free speech as a general cultural ideal. Together, these chapters will provide readers with a thorough and accurate grounding in their First Amendment rights and responsibilities.
Free Speech and False Speech
by Robert N. SpicerThis book examines the history of the legal discourse around political falsehood and its future in the wake of the 2012 US Supreme Court decision in US v. Alvarez through communication law, political philosophy, and communication theory perspectives. As US v. Alvarez confirmed First Amendment protection for lies, Robert N. Spicer addresses how the ramifications of that decision function by looking at statutory and judicial handling of First Amendment protection for political deception. Illustrating how commercial speech is regulated but political speech is not, Spicer evaluates the role of deception in politics and its consequences for democracy in a contemporary political environment where political personalities, partisan media, and dark money donors bend the truth and abuse the virtue of free expression.
Free Speech and Koch Money: Manufacturing a Campus Culture War
by Isaac Kamola Ralph WilsonIn recent years hundreds of high-profile ‘free speech’ incidents have rocked US college campuses. Jordan Peterson, Ben Shapiro, Ann Coulter and other right-wing speakers have faced considerable protest, with many being disinvited from speaking. These incidents are widely circulated as examples of the academy’s intolerance towards conservative views. But this response is not the spontaneous outrage of the liberal colleges. There is a darker element manufacturing the crisis, funded by political operatives, and designed to achieve specific political outcomes. If you follow the money, at the heart of the issue lies the infamous and ultra-libertarian Koch donor network. Grooming extremist celebrities, funding media platforms that promote these controversies, developing legal organizations to sue universities and corrupting legislators, the influence of the Koch network runs deep. We need to abandon the ‘campus free speech’ narrative and instead follow the money if we ever want to root out this dangerous network from our universities.
Free Speech and Koch Money: Manufacturing a Campus Culture War
by Ralph Wilson Isaac KamolaIn recent years hundreds of high-profile ‘free speech’ incidents have rocked US college campuses. Jordan Peterson, Ben Shapiro, Ann Coulter and other right-wing speakers have faced considerable protest, with many being disinvited from speaking. These incidents are widely circulated as examples of the academy’s intolerance towards conservative views. But this response is not the spontaneous outrage of the liberal colleges. There is a darker element manufacturing the crisis, funded by political operatives, and designed to achieve specific political outcomes. If you follow the money, at the heart of the issue lies the infamous and ultra-libertarian Koch donor network. Grooming extremist celebrities, funding media platforms that promote these controversies, developing legal organizations to sue universities and corrupting legislators, the influence of the Koch network runs deep. We need to abandon the ‘campus free speech’ narrative and instead follow the money if we ever want to root out this dangerous network from our universities.
Free Speech and the State: An Unprincipled Approach
by David Van MillThis book addresses the question: “What should be the appropriate limits to free speech?” The author claims that it is the state, rather than abstract principles, that must provide the answer. The book defends a version of Hobbesian absolutism and rejects the dominant liberal idea that there is a right (human or civil) setting the boundaries of free speech. This liberal view can be known as the “principled defence of free speech”, in which speech is established as a constitutional principle that has priority over the state. The author instead offers an “unprincipled approach to free speech”, suggesting that the boundaries of speech must necessarily be set by the state, which in liberal democracies means through social and political contestation. The final chapter applies the argument to the topic of hate speech and argues that it is appropriate to limit such speech when it causes harm and offense. The book will be of use to students and scholars across political theory, political science, sociology, philosophy and law.
Free Speech and the State: An Unprincipled Approach
by David Van MillThis book addresses the question: “What should be the appropriate limits to free speech?” The author claims that it is the state, rather than abstract principles, that must provide the answer. The book defends a version of Hobbesian absolutism and rejects the dominant liberal idea that there is a right (human or civil) setting the boundaries of free speech. This liberal view can be known as the “principled defence of free speech”, in which speech is established as a constitutional principle that has priority over the state. The author instead offers an “unprincipled approach to free speech”, suggesting that the boundaries of speech must necessarily be set by the state, which in liberal democracies means through social and political contestation. The final chapter applies the argument to the topic of hate speech and argues that it is appropriate to limit such speech when it causes harm and offense. The book will be of use to students and scholars across political theory, political science, sociology, philosophy and law.
Free Speech and Turbulent Freedom: The Dangerous Allure of Censorship in the Digital Era
by Michael J. GlennonA brisk, practical defense of free speech in America's digital public square that calls on the courts to reject the censors' absolutism, enforce enduring First Amendment principles, and restore a vigorous and robust marketplace of ideas. A vast censorship regime has smothered America's digital marketplace of ideas, squelching free speech on vital policy issues ranging from public health to electoral politics. Its supporters regard its benefits as morally and politically beyond question. They contend it's carried out by private social media platforms, not governmental authorities. And they insist their partnership is voluntary, not coerced. In Free Speech and Turbulent Freedom, Michael J. Glennon offers a timely and incisive response. The censors are short-sighted, he argues. Quibbling over outdated distinctions misses the real threat--which is the fusion of public and private power into a modern-day cartel able to overleap longstanding constitutional safeguards. American democracy, he argues, rests on a decentralized marketplace of ideas independent of the government. In crisp, trenchant terms, Glennon shows how concrete practical concerns justify protecting admittedly harmful online speech--even speech that advocates violence or embraces hatred or apparent falsehood. The intellectual journey of Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. from absolutist to skeptic, he suggests, illuminates the value of political pluralism and the perils of the censors' delusory certitude. To safely self-correct, democracy requires open channels of political communication. Glennon calls on the courts to unblock those channels--to measure such speech against enduring First Amendment precepts rather than pliable international norms--and to protect the speech interests not merely of the government and Big Tech, but of all participants in the marketplace of ideas. That includes what's often overlooked: Americans' right to hear. Without robust judicial protection, the specious attractions of censorship--and the absolutist certitude that drives it--will destroy America's marketplace of ideas and, with it, any hope of political self-renewal.
Free Speech and Turbulent Freedom: The Dangerous Allure of Censorship in the Digital Era
by Michael GlennonA brisk, practical defense of free speech in America's digital public square that calls on the courts to reject the censors' absolutism, enforce enduring First Amendment principles, and restore a vigorous and robust marketplace of ideas. A vast censorship regime has smothered America's digital marketplace of ideas, squelching free speech on vital policy issues ranging from public health to electoral politics. Its supporters regard its benefits as morally and politically beyond question. They contend it's carried out by private social media platforms, not governmental authorities. And they insist their partnership is voluntary, not coerced. In Free Speech and Turbulent Freedom, Michael J. Glennon offers a timely and incisive response. The censors are short-sighted, he argues. Quibbling over outdated distinctions misses the real threat--which is the fusion of public and private power into a modern-day cartel able to overleap longstanding constitutional safeguards. American democracy, he argues, rests on a decentralized marketplace of ideas independent of the government. In crisp, trenchant terms, Glennon shows how concrete practical concerns justify protecting admittedly harmful online speech--even speech that advocates violence or embraces hatred or apparent falsehood. The intellectual journey of Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. from absolutist to skeptic, he suggests, illuminates the value of political pluralism and the perils of the censors' delusory certitude. To safely self-correct, democracy requires open channels of political communication. Glennon calls on the courts to unblock those channels--to measure such speech against enduring First Amendment precepts rather than pliable international norms--and to protect the speech interests not merely of the government and Big Tech, but of all participants in the marketplace of ideas. That includes what's often overlooked: Americans' right to hear. Without robust judicial protection, the specious attractions of censorship--and the absolutist certitude that drives it--will destroy America's marketplace of ideas and, with it, any hope of political self-renewal.
Free Speech and Unfree News: The Paradox Of Press Freedom In America
by Sam LebovicDoes America have a free press? Many who say yes appeal to First Amendment protections against censorship. Sam Lebovic shows that free speech, on its own, is not sufficient to produce a free press and helps us understand the crises that beset the press amid media consolidation, a secretive national security state, and the daily newspaper’s decline.
Free Speech as Civic Structure: A Comparative Analysis of How Courts and Culture Shape the Freedom of Speech
by Ronald J. Krotoszynski, Jr.Free Speech as Social Structure: A Comparative Legal Analysis of How Courts and Culture Shape the Freedom of Speech examines and explains the limited relevance of constitutional text to the scope and vibrancy of free speech rights within a particular national legal system. Across jurisdictions, text or its absence will serve merely as a starting point for judicial efforts to protect speech activity. These judicial efforts, involving an ongoing and dynamic process of common law constitutionalism, will set the precise metes and bounds of expressive freedom within a particular polity. In the United States, the contemporary Supreme Court largely ignores the actual text of the First Amendment in "First Amendment" cases. Moreover, this pattern repeats elsewhere - including Australia, Israel, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. Judges in systems with relevant constitutional text (the United States and South Africa), as well as relevant statutory text (the United Kingdom), will often disregard the precise articulation of the right in favor of deploying a dynamic common law approach to protect speech from self-interested politicians who seek to distort the process of democratic deliberation. Judges also take the laboring oar in countries that lack a written free speech guarantee (Australia) or even a formal constitution as such (Israel). The strength or weakness of free speech protections depends critically on the willingness and ability of judges to police government efforts to censor speech - in conjunction with the salience of speech as a socio-legal value within the body politic. Thus, a legal system featuring independent courts, ideally vested with a power of judicial review, but that lacks a written free speech guarantee will likely feature broader protection of the freedom of expression than a legal system with a written guarantee that lacks independent courts. Across jurisdictions, text or its absence invariably serves as, at best, as a starting point for judicial efforts to protect speech. Judges, engaged in a common law enterprise, matter far more than text and common law constitutionalism constitutes the global rule rather than the exception.
Free Speech as Civic Structure: A Comparative Analysis of How Courts and Culture Shape the Freedom of Speech
by Ronald J. Krotoszynski, Jr.Free Speech as Social Structure: A Comparative Legal Analysis of How Courts and Culture Shape the Freedom of Speech examines and explains the limited relevance of constitutional text to the scope and vibrancy of free speech rights within a particular national legal system. Across jurisdictions, text or its absence will serve merely as a starting point for judicial efforts to protect speech activity. These judicial efforts, involving an ongoing and dynamic process of common law constitutionalism, will set the precise metes and bounds of expressive freedom within a particular polity. In the United States, the contemporary Supreme Court largely ignores the actual text of the First Amendment in "First Amendment" cases. Moreover, this pattern repeats elsewhere - including Australia, Israel, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. Judges in systems with relevant constitutional text (the United States and South Africa), as well as relevant statutory text (the United Kingdom), will often disregard the precise articulation of the right in favor of deploying a dynamic common law approach to protect speech from self-interested politicians who seek to distort the process of democratic deliberation. Judges also take the laboring oar in countries that lack a written free speech guarantee (Australia) or even a formal constitution as such (Israel). The strength or weakness of free speech protections depends critically on the willingness and ability of judges to police government efforts to censor speech - in conjunction with the salience of speech as a socio-legal value within the body politic. Thus, a legal system featuring independent courts, ideally vested with a power of judicial review, but that lacks a written free speech guarantee will likely feature broader protection of the freedom of expression than a legal system with a written guarantee that lacks independent courts. Across jurisdictions, text or its absence invariably serves as, at best, as a starting point for judicial efforts to protect speech. Judges, engaged in a common law enterprise, matter far more than text and common law constitutionalism constitutes the global rule rather than the exception.
The Free Speech Century
The Supreme Court's 1919 decision in Schenck vs. the United States is one of the most important free speech cases in American history. Written by Oliver Wendell Holmes, it is most famous for first invoking the phrase "clear and present danger." Although the decision upheld the conviction of an individual for criticizing the draft during World War I, it also laid the foundation for our nation's robust protection of free speech. Over time, the standard Holmes devised made freedom of speech in America a reality rather than merely an ideal. In The Free Speech Century, two of America's leading First Amendment scholars, Lee C. Bollinger and Geoffrey R. Stone, have gathered a group of the nation's leading constitutional scholars--Cass Sunstein, Lawrence Lessig, Laurence Tribe, Kathleen Sullivan, Catherine McKinnon, among others--to evaluate the evolution of free speech doctrine since Schenk and to assess where it might be headed in the future. Since 1919, First Amendment jurisprudence in America has been a signal development in the history of constitutional democracies--remarkable for its level of doctrinal refinement, remarkable for its lateness in coming (in relation to the adoption of the First Amendment), and remarkable for the scope of protection it has afforded since the 1960s. Over the course of The First Amendment Century, judicial engagement with these fundamental rights has grown exponentially. We now have an elaborate set of free speech laws and norms, but as Stone and Bollinger stress, the context is always shifting. New societal threats like terrorism, and new technologies of communication continually reshape our understanding of what speech should be allowed. Publishing on the one hundredth anniversary of the decision that laid the foundation for America's free speech tradition, The Free Speech Century will serve as an essential resource for anyone interested in how our understanding of the First Amendment transformed over time and why it is so critical both for the United States and for the world today.
FREE SPEECH CENTURY C
by Lee C. Bollinger and Geoffrey R . StoneThe Supreme Court's 1919 decision in Schenck vs. the United States is one of the most important free speech cases in American history. Written by Oliver Wendell Holmes, it is most famous for first invoking the phrase "clear and present danger." Although the decision upheld the conviction of an individual for criticizing the draft during World War I, it also laid the foundation for our nation's robust protection of free speech. Over time, the standard Holmes devised made freedom of speech in America a reality rather than merely an ideal. In The Free Speech Century, two of America's leading First Amendment scholars, Lee C. Bollinger and Geoffrey R. Stone, have gathered a group of the nation's leading constitutional scholars--Cass Sunstein, Lawrence Lessig, Laurence Tribe, Kathleen Sullivan, Catherine McKinnon, among others--to evaluate the evolution of free speech doctrine since Schenk and to assess where it might be headed in the future. Since 1919, First Amendment jurisprudence in America has been a signal development in the history of constitutional democracies--remarkable for its level of doctrinal refinement, remarkable for its lateness in coming (in relation to the adoption of the First Amendment), and remarkable for the scope of protection it has afforded since the 1960s. Over the course of The First Amendment Century, judicial engagement with these fundamental rights has grown exponentially. We now have an elaborate set of free speech laws and norms, but as Stone and Bollinger stress, the context is always shifting. New societal threats like terrorism, and new technologies of communication continually reshape our understanding of what speech should be allowed. Publishing on the one hundredth anniversary of the decision that laid the foundation for America's free speech tradition, The Free Speech Century will serve as an essential resource for anyone interested in how our understanding of the First Amendment transformed over time and why it is so critical both for the United States and for the world today.
Free Speech in the Digital Age
This collection of thirteen new essays is the first to examine, from a range of disciplinary perspectives, how the new technologies and global reach of the Internet are changing the theory and practice of free speech. The rapid expansion of online communication, as well as the changing roles of government and private organizations in monitoring and regulating the digital world, give rise to new questions, including: How do philosophical defenses of the right to freedom of expression, developed in the age of the town square and the printing press, apply in the digital age? Should search engines be covered by free speech principles? How should international conflicts over online speech regulations be resolved? Is there a right to be forgotten that is at odds with the right to free speech? How has the Internet facilitated new speech-based harms such as cyber-stalking, twitter-trolling, and revenge porn, and how should these harms be addressed? The contributors to this groundbreaking volume include philosophers, legal theorists, political scientists, communications scholars, public policy makers, and activists.
FREE SPEECH IN THE DIGITAL AGE C
by Edited by Susan J. Brison and Katharine GelberThis collection of thirteen new essays is the first to examine, from a range of disciplinary perspectives, how the new technologies and global reach of the Internet are changing the theory and practice of free speech. The rapid expansion of online communication, as well as the changing roles of government and private organizations in monitoring and regulating the digital world, give rise to new questions, including: How do philosophical defenses of the right to freedom of expression, developed in the age of the town square and the printing press, apply in the digital age? Should search engines be covered by free speech principles? How should international conflicts over online speech regulations be resolved? Is there a right to be forgotten that is at odds with the right to free speech? How has the Internet facilitated new speech-based harms such as cyber-stalking, twitter-trolling, and revenge porn, and how should these harms be addressed? The contributors to this groundbreaking volume include philosophers, legal theorists, political scientists, communications scholars, public policy makers, and activists.
Free Speech in the New Media (Library of Essays in Media Law)
by Thomas GibbonsThis volume deals with questions of political and constitutional principle and theory that affect the law and regulation of content in new media that are based on digital technology. In the light of convergence between different forms of communication, it examines whether the justifications for government intervention in traditional analogue broadcasting and programme delivery continue to be persuasive. The essays examine in general whether new approaches to freedom of expression are required in the digital era and whether there is a continued role for public service broadcasting or its equivalent. They also explore content standards in more detail, discussing arguments for and against regulation in the areas of beliefs, indecency and advertising and whether there is a case for the European Union's measures to secure "Television without Frontiers".
Free Speech in the New Media (Library of Essays in Media Law)
by Thomas GibbonsThis volume deals with questions of political and constitutional principle and theory that affect the law and regulation of content in new media that are based on digital technology. In the light of convergence between different forms of communication, it examines whether the justifications for government intervention in traditional analogue broadcasting and programme delivery continue to be persuasive. The essays examine in general whether new approaches to freedom of expression are required in the digital era and whether there is a continued role for public service broadcasting or its equivalent. They also explore content standards in more detail, discussing arguments for and against regulation in the areas of beliefs, indecency and advertising and whether there is a case for the European Union's measures to secure "Television without Frontiers".
Free Speech on Campus
by Erwin Chemerinsky Howard GillmanCan free speech coexist with an inclusive campus environment? Hardly a week goes by without another controversy over free speech on college campuses. On one side, there are increased demands to censor hateful, disrespectful, and bullying expression and to ensure an inclusive and nondiscriminatory learning environment. On the other side are traditional free speech advocates who charge that recent demands for censorship coddle students and threaten free inquiry. In this clear and carefully reasoned book, a university chancellor and a law school dean—both constitutional scholars who teach a course in free speech to undergraduates—argue that campuses must provide supportive learning environments for an increasingly diverse student body but can never restrict the expression of ideas. This book provides the background necessary to understanding the importance of free speech on campus and offers clear prescriptions for what colleges can and can’t do when dealing with free speech controversies.
Free to Judge: The Power of Campaign Money in Judicial Elections
by Michael Kang Joanna ShepherdThe idea that wealthy people use their money to influence things, including politics, law, and media will surprise very few people. However, as Michael S. Kang and Joanna Shepherd argue in this readable and rich study of the state judiciary, the effect of money on judicial outcomes should disturb and anger everyone. In the current system that elects state judges, the rich and powerful can spend money to elect and re-elect judges who decide cases the way they want. Free to Judge is about how and why money increasingly affects the dispensation of justice in our legal system, and what can be done to stop it. One of the barriers to action in the past has been an inability to prove that campaign donations influence state judicial decision-making. In this book, Kang and Shepherd answer that challenge for the first time, with a rigorous empirical study of campaign finance and judicial decision-making data. Pairing this with interviews of past and present judges, they create a compelling and persuasive account of people like Marsha Ternus, the first Iowa state supreme court justice to be voted out of office after her decision in a same-sex marriage case. The threat of such an outcome, and the desire to win reelection, results in judges demonstrably leaning towards the interests and preferences of their campaign donors across all cases. Free to Judge is thus able to identify the pieces of our current system that invite bias, such as judicial reelection, and what reforms should focus on. This thoughtful and compellingly written book will be required reading for anybody who cares about creating a more just legal system.
Free to Move: Foot Voting, Migration, and Political Freedom
by Ilya SominBallot box voting is often considered the essence of political freedom. But it has two major shortcomings: individual voters have little chance of making a difference, and they face strong incentives to remain ignorant about the issues at stake. "Voting with your feet," however, avoids both these pitfalls and offers a wider range of choices. In Free to Move, Ilya Somin explains how broadening opportunities for foot voting can greatly enhance political liberty for millions of people around the world. People can vote with their feet through international migration, choosing where to live within a federal system, and by making decisions in the private sector. Somin addresses a variety of common objections to expanded migration rights, including claims that the "self-determination" of natives requires giving them the power to exclude migrants, and arguments that migration is likely to have harmful side effects, such as undermining political institutions, overburdening the welfare state, increasing crime and terrorism, and spreading undesirable cultural values. While these objections are usually directed at international migration, Somin shows how a consistent commitment to such theories would also justify severe restrictions on domestic freedom of movement. By making a systematic case for a more open world, Free to Move challenges conventional wisdom on both the left and the right. This revised and expanded edition addresses key new issues, including fears that migration could spread dangerous diseases, such as Covid-19, claims that immigrants might generate a political backlash that threatens democracy, and the impact of remote work.
Free to Move: Foot Voting, Migration, and Political Freedom
by Ilya SominBallot box voting is often considered the essence of political freedom. But it has two major shortcomings: individual voters have little chance of making a difference, and they face strong incentives to remain ignorant about the issues at stake. "Voting with your feet," however, avoids both these pitfalls and offers a wider range of choices. In Free to Move, Ilya Somin explains how broadening opportunities for foot voting can greatly enhance political liberty for millions of people around the world. People can vote with their feet through international migration, choosing where to live within a federal system, and by making decisions in the private sector. Somin addresses a variety of common objections to expanded migration rights, including claims that the "self-determination" of natives requires giving them the power to exclude migrants, and arguments that migration is likely to have harmful side effects, such as undermining political institutions, overburdening the welfare state, increasing crime and terrorism, and spreading undesirable cultural values. While these objections are usually directed at international migration, Somin shows how a consistent commitment to such theories would also justify severe restrictions on domestic freedom of movement. By making a systematic case for a more open world, Free to Move challenges conventional wisdom on both the left and the right. This revised and expanded edition addresses key new issues, including fears that migration could spread dangerous diseases, such as Covid-19, claims that immigrants might generate a political backlash that threatens democracy, and the impact of remote work.