Whilst the protection of political speech is essential to the preservation of a democratic legal order, events of political violence and assassinations highlight the need to rethink questions relating to the boundaries of free speech in a democratic society. To what extent should democratic countries committed to freedom of speech limit those forms of extreme speech that may be considered as incitements to violence? This is a question that has long divided academics and activists alike. It has become even more relevant today, with the recent rise of extreme right-wing parties in various European democracies. In this book, leading scholars of constitutional law, human rights and criminal law, from various countries with divergent philosophies on freedom of speech, address the question of whether we can, and should, regulate speech in order to protect democracy and, if so, how.

Foreword; D. Kretzmer. Notes on Contributors. Session I: Boundaries of Freedom of Speech. Keynote Address: Freedom of Speech and Incitement Against Democracy; A. Lewis. Violence-Conducive Speech: Punishable Verbal Assault or Protected Political Speech? F.M. Lawrence. Incitement against Democracy as a Limitation of Freedom of Speech; J.A. Frowein. Session II: The Threat of Violent Speech. Speech, Behaviour and the Interdependence of Fact and Value; F. Schauer. Violence: Dilemmas of Democracy and Law; S. Baer. Session III: The Law of Incitement. Incitement and Freedom of Speech; L. Alexander. The Law of Incitement and the Use of Speech to Incite Others to Commit Criminal Acts: German Law in Comparative Perspective; A. Eser. Incitement, not Sedition; M. Kremnitzer, K. Ghanayim. Session IV: Defamation of Public Figures. Thinking Torts: Private Remedies for the Defamation of Political Leaders; G.P. Fletcher. Session V: Institutional Perspectives. Germany's 'Militant Democracy': An Attempt to Fight Incitement Against Democracy and Freedom of Speech Through Constitutional Provisions: History and Overall Record; D. Oberndorfer. The Regulation of Speech: A Normative Investigation of Criminal Law: Prohibitions of Speech; A. Harel. Index.