A New Approach to Political Speech: Democratic Theory, Constitutional Law, and Public Liberty After January 6

This provocative book challenges conventional understandings of political speech and its relationship to democracy. Through a focused case study of Donald Trump’s role in attempting to overturn the 2020 election and the prosecutions stemming from it, Erik Olsen develops a critique of the prevailing view that political speech is a private right that is only instrumentally related to political action. He advocates instead for a theoretical framework that treats political speech as a form of communicative action and balances the protection of free expression with the need to safeguard core democratic practices and processes. He thus outlines a more robust First Amendment jurisprudence that can better defend both public liberty and democratic institutions from authoritarian threats in the current era of democratic backsliding.

Erik J. Olsen is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Seattle University. His research interests include democratic theory, constitutional law, constitutional theory, the republican tradition, liberalism, and legal and political theories of property. He is the author of Civic Republicanism and the Properties of Democracy: A Case Study of Post-Socialist Political Theory. Professor Olsen is also a composer and performing jazz musician who has composed music for three original musicals.