“The maintenance of democracy was dependent on freedom of expression in the arts and media.” Discuss with reference to two democratic states, each from a different region.

Candidates will offer a considered and balanced review of the hypothesis that the maintenance of democracy was dependent upon the freedom of expression in the arts and the media. While the focus of the response must be within the timeframe of this topic, the two democratic states chosen need not be contemporaneous with each other. However, they must be chosen from different regions. Arguments may be made in favour of and/or against the statement. While the focus must be on the dependency of democracy on freedom in the arts/media, some candidates may argue that the two were interdependent. Others may argue that democracy was more dependent on other factors such as an independent judicial system, access to education or fair distribution of economic wealth. Each democratic state may be considered separately or a thematic approach adopted to compare the relative dependence on the freedom of the arts and media.