Reversing the Global Decline of Democracy’s Most Essential Freedom”

I’m delighted to report that Profs. Jacob Mchangama (Vanderbilt) & Jeff Kosseff (Naval Academy, moving this year to Minnesota) will be guest-blogging Monday to Wednesday about their new book, The Future of Free Speech: Reversing the Global Decline of Democracy’s Most Essential Freedom. Here’s the publisher’s summary:

An incisive examination of free speech’s global decline and a framework for preserving expression in democratic societies.

The Future of Free Speech confronts a stark truth: the right to speak freely is under siege. Once celebrated as a cornerstone of democratic societies, free expression is now met with growing suspicion and retaliation across the globe. Jacob Mchangama and Jeff Kosseff present a panoramic view of how we arrived at this pivotal moment.

The authors examine a century in which speech rights expanded dramatically―including postwar democratic revolutions and the sweeping protections of the First Amendment―only to find those rights unraveling in the face of new political, technological, and cultural pressures. Today, liberal democracies are imposing speech controls, authoritarian regimes are cloaking censorship in democratic language, and digital platforms wield unprecedented power over global discourse. This book examines the backlash against free speech from all sides: governments criminalizing dissent in the name of national security; lawmakers and activists demanding tighter controls on misinformation, hate speech, and offensive content; and AI systems removing speech at a scale and speed that dwarfs historical forms of censorship. At the same time, faith in free speech itself is waning, even in the very societies that once championed it.

The Future of Free Speech argues for a reinvigorated, global commitment to open dialogue. Mchangama and Kosseff advocate nonpartisan, civic-minded solutions that resist both government overreach and corporate silencing. They offer a compelling case for how free speech can meet modern challenges without abandoning its foundational role in sustaining democracy, human rights, and shared understanding.

And the jacket blurbs:

Free speech is under increasing siege in today’s world. In their new and important The Future of Free Speech, Jacob Mchangama and Jeff Kosseff, advocate for freedom of speech and make a compelling case for optimism.
―Tyler Cowen, George Mason University

A rigorous and inspiring defense of the freedom that safeguards all others. Mchangama and Kosseff powerfully refute alluring but misguided calls for censoring even the most controversial speech, such as disinformation and hate speech. They demonstrate that open debate is essential for protecting human rights and democracy, and resisting authoritarianism.
―Nadine Strossen, Former President, American Civil Liberties Union

In The Future of Free Speech, Mchangama and Kosseff take readers on a bracing global tour of the free-speech recession, documenting how governments are dusting off old tools to police expression in new ways. Clear, principled, and empirically grounded, this book offers realistic strategies for keeping open societies genuinely open.
―Greg Lukianoff, Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE)

A broad-ranging and powerful analysis of the recent wave of speech restrictions all over the world, coupled with thoughtful and promising proposals for the future. Very much worth reading.
―Eugene Volokh, Stanford University

The Future of Free Speech is a brilliant defense of our most essential freedom. Mchangama and Kosseff prove that free expression isn’t a threat to democracy―it is its foundation. A vital roadmap for anyone who recognizes that once we lose the right to speak, we also lose the power to defend every other right.
―Yascha Mounk, Johns Hopkins University

One of the very best books about the ‘global free-speech recession’ by two of the greatest analysts and champions for First Amendment values.
―Nick Gillespie, Reason