ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the question of the objectives of censorship and limitations imposed on free expression. There are numerous objectives, goals, and ends to censorship, and a useful way of classifying them is to distinguish between what might be called macro-objectives and micro-objectives. In numerous countries in the Third World, there is a fundamental, overarching goal for the censorship policy of the government: to maintain the political and social order—to prevent a regime change and to eliminate any opposition to it. In Nepal, member of parliament Rupchand Bista and editor-publisher Keschav Raj Pindali were arrested in late 1986 for publishing a satirical poem that was critical of the country’s partyless system. One of the more commonly used rationales for censorship in the Third World is in the area of religion and religious practice: Many Third World countries have censorship laws and practices against blasphemy, and others have rules and policies against religious intolerance or religious radicalism.
