Freedom of expression and equal participation – EgaLibEx
Freedom of expression and equal participation
The interdisciplinary research program EGALIBEX questions the relationship between freedom of expression and equal participation in liberal democracies, particularly in Europe. Can the legal regime governing the fundamental right to free expression ensure equal access for all to public debate?
Can freedom of expression be an equal right for all?
Philosophy and legal theory have often questioned the external limits of freedom of expression, focusing on acts of expression that are deemed to threaten other freedoms or social interests, for example defamation, incitement to racial hatred or apology for terrorism. Much less attention has been paid to the internal structure of this right, as set out in the provisions organizing access to public expression. However, these rules pose specific difficulties. They do not restrict freedom of expression in the name of other freedoms or independent interests. Rather, they seek to reconcile the free expression of some with the free expression of the others, so that all can participate on an equal footing in public communication, and in particular in democratic debate.<br /><br />The rules governing access to physical or virtual forums today raise formidable political and legal dilemmas, whether it is about the use of public spaces or the regulation of digital platforms, the concentration of audiovisual media or the neutrality of the Internet. In liberal democracies, the law lays down some general principles – such as pluralism – that must make it possible to fairly organize the exercise of freedom of expression by all, without unduly restricting it. But these principles are generally not sufficiently determined in their content or prioritized to solve the problems faced by judges and legislators.<br /><br />The ambition of the EGALIBEX research program is to contribute to the resolution of these dilemmas at the level of the philosophy of law. Its objectives are to identify, interpret and evaluate from the point of view of equality of participation the different legal principles that can organize freedom of expression.
To this end, the team members conduct :
1. A conceptual and genealogical analysis of freedom of expression as a political right whose primary purpose is to support democratic debate.
2. A normative inquiry into the legal implications for freedom of expression of philosophical theories of public deliberation
3. A comparative study of the main principles organizing the national and regional legal regimes of freedom of expression in Europe
The EGALIBEX research program brings together a multidisciplinary team of researchers in the humanities and social sciences (philosophy, law, political science and sociology of communication) to carry out these three tasks.
The program's activities, publications and results are presented on its website: egalibex.univ-lyon3.fr.
The program's working group has conducted a systematic study of «internal conflits« of freedom of expression (typology of conflicts, analysis of the distributive and corrective justice problems they raise, comparison of possible modes of resolution). (See the dossier published in the Revue des droits et libertés fondamentaux).
The program's international colloquia and research seminar made it possible to compare, on a European scale, and in contrast to the North American tradition, the theoretical frameworks and legal instruments guiding the regulation of freedom of expression in the name of public debate, and in particular of the requirement of equal participation (proceedings to be published).
Next steps in the program include:
+ a study of European communication law (national legal orders, European Union, Council of Europe) focusing on the relationship between freedom of expression and democratic debate, conducted by a group of philosophers, jurists and judges from various European countries ;
+ a collective philosophical study mapping the main modes of conceptualization of the right to free expression within contemporary legal philosophy;
+ a multidisciplinary study (sociology, law, philosophy) of the proposals for regulation of digital media in the name of the requirements of democratic debate (equal access, public exchange, diversity of opinion, control of moderators).
Recent publications:
+ Dossier «La liberté d'expression en conflits«, Revue des droits et libertés fondamentaux, décembre 2020. Contributions de P. Auriel, G. Calvès, C. Girard, T. Hochmann, M. Unger.
www.revuedlf.com/dossier/la-liberte-dexpression-en-conflits/
+ C. Girard, Pourquoi a-t-on le droit d'offenser ?, La vie des idées, décembre 2020
laviedesidees.fr/Pourquoi-a-t-on-le-droit-d-offenser.html
EGALIBEX is an interdisciplinary research project (philosophy, law, ICST). It focuses on the regulation of freedom of expression in liberal democracies. While legal philosophy has extensively studied the regulation of certain categories of expressive acts (pornography, incitement to racial hatred, advocacy of terrorism, etc.), regulations governing access to public forums and their use have been understudied, especially in French-language work. These rules, however, pose specific difficulties because they do not only restrict freedom of expression in the name of other freedoms or social interests: they mainly organize its exercise in order to reconcile the freedom of expression of one with that of another. Their aim, in other words, is to make it possible for all the holders of this right to exercise it in fair conditions within public deliberation. They raise today, with regard to the Internet and the new media, new legal problems related to inequalities of access to expression and to information (for example in the case of net neutrality, the regulation of social networks or the control of algorithms used by search engines). How can the law regulate access to these media, or even their use, without unduly restricting freedom of expression? If the law states, in liberal democracies, general principles such as media pluralism or the right to information, these are not sufficiently determined or prioritized to solve these problems. The ambition of EGALIBEX is to contribute, on a theoretical level, to solve them. Its main objectives are the identification, clarification and evaluation of principles that can guide the fair regulation of freedom of expression. To this end, it will conduct 1) a conceptual analysis of freedom of expression as a democratic right, 2) a normative analysis of the legal implications of the theories of democratic deliberation, and 3) a comparative survey on the right to freedom of expression in France, Europe and the United States.
Project coordination
Charles Girard (EA 4187 - INSTITUT DE RECHERCHES PHILOSOPHIQUES DE LYON)
The author of this summary is the project coordinator, who is responsible for the content of this summary. The ANR declines any responsibility as for its contents.
Partnership
IRPhiL EA 4187 - INSTITUT DE RECHERCHES PHILOSOPHIQUES DE LYON
Help of the ANR 218,930 euros
Beginning and duration of the scientific project:
November 2018
- 48 Months
