Mchangama's history of free speech is the most comprehensive single-volume treatment of the subject and the essential context for contemporary debates about information regulation. Running from Athenian democratic theory through Enlightenment liberalism, the colonial press, twentieth-century totalitarianism, and the emergence of platform governance, the book demonstrates that the tension between free expression and the suppression of dangerous speech is not a feature of the digital age but a permanent condition of open societies.
The historical sweep is analytically useful for practitioners: it reveals the recurring patterns of how free speech restrictions are introduced (usually with genuine justification), extended (usually beyond their original scope), and weaponised (usually against the groups they were meant to protect). For those working on the policy architecture of counter-disinformation, this history is essential ballast against the temptation to treat regulatory intervention as straightforwardly beneficial.
Cogitavi commentary
Mchangama's history of free speech is the most comprehensive single-volume treatment of the subject and the essential context for contemporary debates about information regulation. Running from Athenian democratic theory through Enlightenment liberalism, the colonial press, twentieth-century totalitarianism, and the emergence of platform governance, the book demonstrates that the tension between free expression and the suppression of dangerous speech is not a feature of the digital age but a permanent condition of open societies.
The historical sweep is analytically useful for practitioners: it reveals the recurring patterns of how free speech restrictions are introduced (usually with genuine justification), extended (usually beyond their original scope), and weaponised (usually against the groups they were meant to protect). For those working on the policy architecture of counter-disinformation, this history is essential ballast against the temptation to treat regulatory intervention as straightforwardly beneficial.