Intellectual Freedom

Academic Freedom and the Law: A Comparative Study provides a critical analysis of the law relating to academic freedom in three major jurisdictions: the United Kingdom, Germany and the United States. The book outlines the various claims which may be made to academic freedom by individual university teachers and by universities and other higher education institutions, and it examines the justifications which have been put forward for these claims. Three separate chapters deal with the legal principles of academic freedom in the UK, Germany, and the USA. A further chapter is devoted to the restrictions on freedom of research which may be imposed by the regulation of clinical trials, by intellectual property laws, and by the terms of contracts made between researchers and the companies sponsoring medical and other research. The book also examines the impact of recent terrorism laws on the teaching and research freedom of academics, and it discusses their freedom to speak about general political and social topics unrelated to their work. This is the first comparative study of a subject of fundamental importance to all academics and others working in universities. It emphasises the importance of academic freedom, while pointing out that, on occasion, exaggerated claims have been made to its exercise.

This two-volume work addresses every key, cutting-edge issue regarding the First Amendment, including subjects such as freedom of religion, freedom of press, freedom of speech, and freedom of organization. First Amendment Rights: An Encyclopedia provides both historical information and current, 21st-century topics in First Amendment issues. Volume 1 addresses the subject through the lens of past decisions and precedent, updated to include controversies between new social media and civil liberties. Volume 2 examines the current state of First Amendment rights, addressing the changes in interpretations of the First Amendment by the Roberts Court as well as in-vogue issues such as Occupy Movements as well as student rights and responsibilities in freedom of religion and speech cases. Key cases are highlighted throughout the text to further comprehension of the underlying issues and subtle complexities. The information is presented so that readers can examine cases in the Roberts court and draw their own conclusions. Coverage is also provided of the challenges and opportunities that arise with the adoption of new technologies and their impact on the interpretations of the First Amendment.

Despite the end of the Cold War, America's national security apparatus for controlling information has remained in place. However, sex and secularism are emerging as the major targets of censorship. Federal decency standards have been imposed on art, the broadcast media, and the Internet. Virtually every major political issue of the 1990s (abortion, campaign finance, violence on TV, homosexuality, indecency on the Internet) has First Amendment implications, and all are included in this comprehensive encyclopedia. This work covers the full history of America's struggle for free expression, as well as the contemporary dynamics represented by pop figures like Frank Zappa, Howard Stern, and Danny Goldberg and politicians like Jesse Helms and Don Edwards. It goes beyond other academic works of its kind by recognizing the primacy of the mass media and the Internet in defining the modern contours of the First Amendment.