Handbook on Academic Freedom

This Handbook explores the meaning of academic freedom, the threats it faces, and its relation to rights of critical expression, public accountability, and the democratic health of open societies. It finds that these threats endanger the intellectual ambitions of academic freedom and jeopardize the future of democracy and intellectual autonomy.

Format: Hardback
Length: 416 pages
Publication date: 10 November 2022
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd

Identifying academic freedom as a significant casualty of rapid and extensive reforms to the governance and practices of academic institutions worldwide, this timely Handbook delves into the profound significance of academic freedom, the myriad threats it faces, and its intricate relationship with the rights of critical expression, public accountability, and the democratic well-being of open societies. An esteemed international cohort of leading scholars engages in a comprehensive exploration of the historical conceptualizations of academic freedom, shedding light on the extent to which it has been reconfigured by the forces of neoliberalism and economic globalization. Chapters meticulously examine the multifaceted threats posed to academic freedom by interventionist government, economic fundamentalism, political conservatism, and extremism. The Handbook reveals that these threats imperil the very essence of academic freedom: the pursuit of truth and the exercise of power to account.

In its examination of this pressing social and political matter, which holds immense importance for the future of democracy and intellectual autonomy, this Handbook serves as a stimulating resource for students and scholars engaged in research on academic freedom, free speech, and democratic governance within higher education institutions.

Dimension: 234 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781788975902