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Norms, institutions and freedom of speech in the US, the UK and Australia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 June 2019

Katharine Gelber Open the ORCID record for Katharine Gelber [Opens in a new window]
Katharine Gelber*
Affiliation:
School of Political Science and International Studies, University of Queensland, Australia
*
Corresponding author. Email: k.gelber@uq.edu.au
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Abstract

While it has become accepted that norms can act in institution-like ways, a highly valued norm that has not been examined is free speech. Can free speech be conceptualised as acting in institution-like ways? If it can, what does this illuminate about processes of policy change? I analyse policy change between 2001 and 2011 in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia, a period during which significant new limits were introduced on free speech in relation to national security. In addition to showing how free speech acted in institution-like ways, the analysis suggests three implications: norms can both act in institution-like ways and be subject to change in interaction with other institutions; a broad, cultural level institution can mask policy change at the narrow, rule-based level even where the latter contradicts the former; and complexity and variation in speech regulation can be understood as consequences of the to-be-expected variability in the institutionalisation of a norm.

Keywords

freedom of speechinstitutionsnew institutionalismsnorms
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Public Policy , Volume 41 , Issue 2 , June 2021 , pp. 209 - 227
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2019

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