Express Yourself! Political Participation Rights and the Demand for Censorship

Abstract

Free speech is supposed to be a crucial prerequisite for democracy. Nevertheless, the latest discussions on the regulation of the internet or the support for military censorship indicate that people may demand censorship. But what are the driving forces behind the demand for information regulations? From an economic point of view the dispersion of certain messages may cause informational externalities. Besides the social costs, individual benefits and paternalistic intentions are listed as further reasons for the support of restrictions. At the heart of these arguments lies mistrust. People believe that the others are more influenced by bad information than they are. Here it will be argued that political institutions play an eminent role. When people have more political participation rights like in direct democracies, information is more valuable and people learn to use the means of discussion. This helps to reduce mistrust and dampens the demand for censorship. These considerations will be tested with a unique data set from a Swiss popular referendum concerning the prohibition of hate speech. First results show that individuals who live in federal states with more political participation rights are more likely to vote against the prohibition. Control variables for externalities, political orientation and cultural background are included.