Imperial Liberties: Democratisation and Governance in the ‘New ’ Imperial Order

Notions of empire and imperialism have increasingly returned to the lexicon of mainstream theorisation of the international.Much of this literature identifies a ‘new ’ imperialism,distinct from the supposed post-and non-imperial global(ising) order of the Westphalian state system. The article contends that such accounts occlude our understanding of the ‘long ’ history of imperialism. It argues that the putatively post-imperial institutions and discourses of ‘global governance ’ are internally related to ‘post-colonial’ imperialism. In particular the regime of ‘democratisation ’ and the curtailing of democratic freedom constitute a principal means through which imperial rule is articulated. Despite a vast literature on ‘democratisation’, there has been a paucity of analysis which interrogates the Great Power-defined agenda of democratisation. Mainstream accounts presuppose what requires explanation, taking for granted the non-imperial character of this global project, the hegemony of a specific and impoverished model of (neo)liberal democracy, highly problematic, de-historicised notions of state, society and self and the categorical separation of the ‘domestic ’ and the ‘international’.The article provides detailed substantive analysis of the endeavour by the dominant social agents of the democratisation project to constitute a (neo)liberal procedural notion of democracy in the ‘post-colonial ’ world. It identifies the dominant social agents of this project and explores the theoretical underpinnings of the dominant model being pro