Price Publishes New Edited Volume, Speech and Society in Turbulent Times

In our communities, we often look to the ideas of historic and contemporary philosophers, religious leaders, and politicians to shape our understanding of the world. Professor Monroe Price has published a new edited volume, Speech and Society in Turbulent Times: Freedom of Expression in Comparative Perspective (Cambridge University Press), which investigates how various societies have applied these ideas – specifically about government, speech, order, and other freedoms – to the digital age.

Along with his co-editor Nicole Stremlau, Price considers how societies address the relationship between expression, traditional and societal values, and the transformations introduced by new information communications technologies. Speech and Society identifies alternative approaches to the role of speech and expression in the organization of societies. It also signals efforts to shape the broader global information society.

The essays included in Speech and Society explore a wide range of cultural and geographic contexts to identify different modes of thinking. Price and Stremlau aim to unpack the normative internet and free expression debate and to deepen understanding about why certain internet policies and models are being pursued in very different local or national contexts.

Price is the founder of the Programme in Comparative Media Law and Policy at the University of Oxford. He directed the Center for Global Communication Studies at the Annenberg School, and he helped develop centers for media policy studies in Moscow, Budapest, and New Delhi, among others. He is the author or editor of 25 books.

Stremlau is Head of the Programme in Comparative Media Law and Policy at the University of Oxford. She is also Research Professor in the Humanities at the University of Johannesburg. She has extensive experience working with newspapers and researching in Ethiopia, Somalia, Somaliland, and Kenya. Her work has been funded by many other sources, including a European Research Council Starting Grant.

Essay contributors to Speech and Society include: Ali Allawi, Boagang He, William Gould, Cherian George, Altug Akin, Yoel Cohen, Richard Danbury, Stephen M. Feldman, Elena Sherstoboeva, Rohit Chopra, Rogier Creemers, Julien Mailland, and Iginio Gagliardone.