Democracy's Empire

The essays in this volume take on the challenge of explaining the current formation of the relation between sovereignty, law and violence in what is termed ‘Democracy’s Empire’. Contains a situated discussion of the institution of democracy and related juridico-political problems Examines the historical and philosophical legacies which inform Democracy’s Empire – such as the Roman Republic, the separation between Church and State in the enlightenment, formations of revolutionary violence, and the relation between norm and exception Poses the problem of violence and death at the heart of the institution of democracy including examples such as South Africa and Iraq Offers a mixture of historical and philosophical treatment of democracy as a juridical problem of constitutional violence

1. Democracy's Empire: Sovereignty, Law and Violence (Stewart Motha). 2. Church, State, Resistance (Jean-Luc Nancy). 3. Constitutional Violence (David Bates). 4. Sovereignty, Exception, and Norm (Andrew Norris). 5. Undoing Legal Violence: Walter Benjamin’s and Giorgio Agamben’s Aesthetics of Pure Means (Benjamin Morgan). 6. The Normality of the Exception in Democracy’s Empire (Peter Fitzpatrick and Richard Joyce). 7. Post-Apartheid Social Movements and the Quest for the Elusive 'New' South Africa (Tshepo Madlingozi). 8. The Violence of Non-Violence: Law and War in Iraq (Samera Esmeir). 9. Performing Power: The Deal, Corporate Rule, and the Constitution of Global Legal Order (Fleur Johns). 10. Veiled Women and the Affect of Religion in Democracy (Stewart Motha)