This book presents an analysis of the nature of democratic theory, focusing on the prevalence of pious discourses of democracy in contemporary politics. Democracy is now promoted in religious terms to such an extent that it has become sacrosanct in Western political theory. The book argues that such piety relies on unsophisticated political analysis, paying scant attention to the complex conditions of contemporary politics. The contention is that it is more useful to think of democracy in terms of the centrality of political disagreement and its propensity to generate political violence. This ... More

This book presents an analysis of the nature of democratic theory, focusing on the prevalence of pious discourses of democracy in contemporary politics. Democracy is now promoted in religious terms to such an extent that it has become sacrosanct in Western political theory. The book argues that such piety relies on unsophisticated political analysis, paying scant attention to the complex conditions of contemporary politics. The contention is that it is more useful to think of democracy in terms of the centrality of political disagreement and its propensity to generate political violence. This argument is exemplified by the ways in which democracy and violence have been conceptualised in the war on terrorism. The book challenges democratic piety through the application of key contemporary approaches in political theory, including complexity theory, post-structuralism, and the idea of radical democracy. It uses the work of theorists such as Jacques Ranciére, William Connolly, Chantal Mouffe, Judith Butler, Giorgio Agamben, Walter Benjamin, and Alain Badiou to interrogate the discourses of democracy that characterise contemporary political debate. Finally, the book grounds the theoretical analysis of democratic discourse with examples from contemporary politics such as the struggles for recognition of refugees and asylum seekers.