India: Democracy and Violence

Violence is usually located outside the democratic domain, implying thereby that its recurrence marks less of-and ironically at the same time — a direct threat to democracy. Democracies are called upon to manage, tackle or deal with it not necessarily through democratic means. Today, democracy is sought to be exported across the continents by waging war on countries that, according to the exporting countries of the West, are yet to become democratic. This book contests and demystifies the celebrationist understanding of democracy and argues that violence is embedded in democracy as much as democracy is embedded in violence. Their interconnected existence has only made democracy violent and violence one of the many ways of trying to make a democracy work. So, more of democracy does not necessarily mean less of violence and vice versa. Democratic institutions and violence are thus implicated in an endless process of dialoguing and confrontation-democracy eternally incomplete, yet never tired of seeking to come to terms with its own normative promises. The alternative to democracy can only be more perfect democracy.