Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction: Pious Discourses of Democracy
- 1 Complexity Theory and Democratic Politics
- 2 Complexity, Democratisation and Conflict
- 3 Democracy, Consensus and Dissent
- 4 Democracy and Violence
- 5 Terrorism, Violence and the Ethics of Democracy
- Conclusion: The Constitutive Failure of Democracy
- Bibliography
- Index
Introduction: Pious Discourses of Democracy
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 September 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction: Pious Discourses of Democracy
- 1 Complexity Theory and Democratic Politics
- 2 Complexity, Democratisation and Conflict
- 3 Democracy, Consensus and Dissent
- 4 Democracy and Violence
- 5 Terrorism, Violence and the Ethics of Democracy
- Conclusion: The Constitutive Failure of Democracy
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Time tends to impose order on the past. We look back on early days and think we discern the outline of all that came after. Knowing how things happened, we assume this is the way it had to be. But the trajectory wasn't pre-set. The chaos we felt around us was for real, and rich in possibilities other than those which came to pass.
(McCann 2005: 84)However commonly held the dominant nominations may be, philosophy cannot accept them without critical examination. Philosophy knows that in general such nominations are under the control of the powers that be and their propaganda.
(Badiou 2003: 108)Religion has long been a target for the critical weaponry of modern political philosophy. Whether it is accused of anaesthetising an otherwise potentially revolutionary subject or generating war and political conflict, religion is often derided in secular political theory as the basis of unthinking faith, trust in traditional hierarchy, or mystical fanaticism. Against this irrationalism, the dominant forms of contemporary political theory attempt to make sense of the world by diagnosing social and political malignancies and advocating alternative paths to a better world free from the dangerous competition of political viewpoints or the fruitless pursuit of any number of religious utopias. This book recognises the validity of many secular critiques of religion and the way in which they identify the potential perils of traditional modes of authority.
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- Information
- Democratic PietyComplexity Conflict and Violence, pp. 1 - 20Publisher: Edinburgh University PressPrint publication year: 2008