To date, scholarly work on public support for free expression has been rather sporadic and primarily descriptive. The authors propose the theory that those who hold power in a society are more likely than the comparatively disenfranchised to support free speech and free press rights. They support this proposition with original survey data gathered in the U.S. Russia, Hong Kong and Israel among Arabs and Jews.

To date, scholarly work on public support for free expression has been rather sporadic and primarily descriptive. The authors propose the theory that those who hold power in a society are more likely than the comparatively disenfranchised to support free speech and free press rights. They support this proposition with original survey data gathered in the U.S. Russia, Hong Kong and Israel among Arabs and Jews.