Constitutional Problem of Subversive Advocacy in the United States of America and Greece: A Comparison of the Legal Guarantees of Political Speech in Times of Crisis

• NCJ Number: 155698
• Author(s): I A Tassopoulos
• Date Published: 1993
• Length: 288 pages
• Publication Type: Legislation/Policy Analysis
• Language: English
• Country: Greece
• Note: Publication 16 of the Hellenic Institute of International and Foreign Law

Annotation

Differences in how Greek and U.S. courts reacted to legislation that attempted to suppress political speech in times of national crisis are analyzed.

Abstract

The author notes that legal, philosophical, and political questions are intertwined in the constitutional doctrine of free political speech. He compares the problem of subversive advocacy in Greece and the United States by specifically looking at the role of freedom of speech in constitutional continuity and change, rival considerations in evaluating the status of subversive advocacy as political speech, the sensitive equilibrium of constitutional politics and subversive advocacy, and the importance of different constitutional traditions for comparative analysis. He also explores the significance of a rigid constitution for Greek and U.S. legal systems, formal and substantive constitutional continuity, and the problem of the judicial function in viewing subversive advocacy from a systemic perspective. The author discusses the rationale of subversive advocacy as political speech, as well as the authority and accountability of political institutions. References and footnotes