Political Speech and its Restrictions in a Liberal Democracy

Liberal Demokraside Siyasal İfade ve Kısıtlanması

Serkan KIZILYEL

Political speech is the oldest and the most valuable part of freedom of speech. It is the right of the people to speech about governments, laws and social conditions. It is a useful tool to balance the power of governments, to force them to stay within their natural borders and to be pluralist and tolerant. On the other hand, it also helps individuals to participate in political process, to protect their interest, to search for truth and to develop their ability. In liberal democracies, the necessity and indispensability of free political speech can be seen in statutes and jurisprudence. However, it is not possible to claim that political speech is absolute. Political speech can harm common interest of public or individual interest without any legitimate reasons. The main problem that must be solved here is how far political speech could be restricted in a liberal democracy.

Human Rights, Freedom of Speech, Political Speech, Liberal Democracy, Government.

Siyasal ifade, ifade özgürlüğünün en eski ve en önemli kısmını oluşturmaktadır. Siyasal ifade bireylerin devlet idaresi, hukuk kuralları ve toplumsal konular hakkında ifade beyan etme hakkıdır. O, hükümetlerin gücünün dengelenmesini, onların doğal sınırları içerisinde kalmasını ve çoğulcu ve hoşgörülü olmalarını sağlamada yararlı bir araçtır. Diğer yandan, siyasal ifade aynı zamanda bireylerin siyasal sürece katılmalarına, kendi menfaatlerini korumalarına, gerçeği aramalarına ve yeteneklerini geliştirmelerine yardım etmektedir. Liberal demokrasilerde, onun gerekliliği ve vazgeçilmezliği kanunlarda ve yargı içtihatlarında görülebilmektedir. Buna karşın siyasal ifadenin sınırsız olduğunu iddia etmek mümkün değildir. Siyasal ifadenin kamunun ortak yararına ya da bireysel menfaatlere herhangi bir meşru amaç olmaksızın zarar vermesi mümkündür. Bu noktada çözülmesi gereken temel sorun, liberal demokrasilerde hangi noktaya kadar siyasal ifadenin sınırlandırılabileceğidir.

İnsan Hakları, İfade Özgürlüğü, Siyasal İfade, Liberal Demokrasi, Hükümet.

1. INTRODUCTION

There has been a long-standing philosophical debate over the nature and prioritisation of human rights.¹ However, one of the main ideas that human right relied on is the assumption that human being is sacred.² According to this very early thought, every single individual has a natural right to be completely free. Social contract theory has a connection with this assumption that claims that people are born free, but everywhere they become slaves and in chains.³ Therefore, the history of modernity contains a history of struggle for human rights.

Freedom of speech is a cornerstone of any democratic society.⁴ In a liberal democracy, everyone has the right to express his or her view on different affairs.⁵ Consequently, every written constitutions and bills of rights without exception protect freedom of expression as a core and basic human rights that guarantee people against suppression or restriction of governments.⁶

Political speech is the oldest and the most valuable part of freedom of speech. For a long time, freedom of speech and political speech considered almost the same. Political speech requires that all individuals to participate in the political process to control government power and to protect their private interest against unwarranted political intrusion.⁷