Maria Slowey is Emeritus Professor, Higher Education Research Centre, Dublin City University, Ireland and Visiting Professor at the Universities of Florence, Italy, and Glasgow, UK.

Richard Taylor is Emeritus Professorial Fellow, Wolfson College, Cambridge University, UK.

Part I: Academic freedom: the issues1. Introduction. Academic Freedom: core value or elite privilege?

2. Academic freedom and the dilemmas of the modern university

3. 'Free speech', academic freedom, and the Public Sphere: some reflections on principles

Part II: Academic freedom: case studies from British higher education (1945-1990)

4. Academic freedom, universities and the Left: a case study of British university adult education in the early years of the Cold War

5. The university as a contested space: 'no platforming' controversies at British universities, 1968-1990

Part III: Academic freedom: contrasting international experiences

6. Academic freedom under ideological attacks in Mexico

7. Beyond Western ideals: academic freedom, capabilities, and social knowledge

8. Selective academic freedom: the case of Hungary

Part IV: Academic freedom: contemporary themes and concluding reflections

9. Epistemic silences: the academic 'precariat' and academic freedom

10. Interrogating the implications of rankings, open science, and publishing for academic practice and academic freedom11. Concluding reflections on academic freedom