Democracy off balance : freedom of expression and hate propaganda law in Canada / Stefan Braun.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Democracy Off Balance offers an unsettling analysis of hate censorship and hate censors as a complex paradox of modern democratic discourse.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

An iconoclastic analysis of the law of hate speech in Canada, this book is written by a legal practitioner who makes a strong case that Canadian hate speech law criminalizing public communication that knowingly promotes hatred against a specific group is self-defeating. He claims that the law undermines what its proponents claim they want to achieve and ultimately is contrary to the public interest. Braun uses the arguments of hate law proponents, juxtaposing them with their own social and political references to demonstrate how contradictory and self-defeating they are. In so doing he makes arguments that, in the evolving Canadian context are "politically incorrect" but that, in the end, many would recognize as being more supportive of the principles of free speech and democracy than what official Canada is trying to achieve with its hate laws. This is an area of ongoing controversy as the Canadian environment becomes increasingly characterized by intensifying differences over a range of issues related to the Middle East, sexual preferences, and a multiethnic society. This book is a forerunner effort. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates, graduate students, researchers, and professionals interested in Canada, comparative politics, and the law. P. Regenstreif University of Rochester