THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION AND THE DEMOCRACY DEVELOPMENT IN EUROPE AND RUSSIA IN THE 16TH – 19TH CENTURIES

Abstract

One of the basic foundations of democracy is the Human right to information and free informative and communicative interaction. The formation of the international and national legislation adopted today in Europe and Russia lasted for several centuries and was closely linked to the geopolitical, military and economic events, to the transformation of public administration, changes in social structures and social attitudes, to the democratic reforms and developments. The chronology of this process is briefly summarized and systematized in this paper. It is based on the states’ adoption of the most important legislative enactments on the way to democratic changes which declared the freedom of speech, press and information.

Keywords

• sociology, information, democracy, signs of democracy, right to information, freedom of information, freedom of the press, freedom of speech, european countries, russia, censorship, history of the right to information and freedom of speech, communication, communicative potential, chronology of the formation of the right to information, history of the right to freedom of expression, freedom of speech as the freedom of the individual, communicative potential, cross-disciplinary research