CMS Seminar: Open Societies and Freedom of Speech – Strategic Challenges and Opportunities

Strategic competition among great powers has reemerged as a defining trait of today’s global security landscape. This has enhanced the difference between open and autocratic societies. Globally, autocratic states are increasingly on the offensive, countering Western efforts to promote human rights – on their home fronts as well as abroad. Inside the West, there is unprecedented doubt about the strength and relevance of the shared values that have unified the West since WWII. Everywhere, new information technologies concurrently work to strengthen public authorities’ surveillance capacity – changing the balance of power between the state and its citizens. Freedom of speech in particular is therefore under pressure both inside and outside the West, at a time where democratic values are especially needed to enable public deliberation and critical debate.

To discuss these issues, the Centre for Military Studies has the pleasure to invite you to a seminar with:

Stanley Sloan (Middlebury College, VT, and Atlantic Council, Washington D.C.)

Jacob Mchangama (Justitia, Copenhagen)

Hanna Ziadeh (PhD, Human Rights and Constitutional Studies)

Moderator:

Henrik Breitenbauch (Centre for Military Studies, Copenhagen)