Liberal Disorder States of Exception and Populist Politics

<p>Liberal democracy is in trouble. This volume considers the crosscutting causes and manifestations of the current crisis facing the liberal order.<br><br>Over the last decade liberal democracy has come under mounting pressure in many unanticipated ways. In response to seemingly endless crisis conditions governments have turned with alarming frequency to extraordinary emergency powers derogating the rule of law and democratic processes. The shifting interconnections between new technologies and public power have raised questions about threats posed to democratic values and norms. Finally the liberal order has been challenged by authoritarian and populist forces promoting anti- pluralist agendas. Adopting a synoptic perspective that puts liberal disorder at the center of its investigation this book uses multiple sources to build a common historical and conceptual framework for understanding major contemporary political currents. The contributions weave together historical studies and conceptual analyses of states of exception emergency powers and their links with technological innovations as well as the tension-ridden relationship between populism and democracy and its theoretical ideological and practical implications.<br><br>The book will be of interest to scholars and students of a number of disciplines in the humanities and social sciences: history political science philosophy constitutional and international law sociology cultural studies anthropology and economics.</p>