1 - ‘Democracy Promotion’ and Moral Authority

Summary

This chapter discusses the ideological background and origin of the idea of ‘democracy promotion’ and different approaches to its study. It argues that the moral authority claimed for ‘democracy promotion’ features the same totalitarian character as Enlightenment thought and ultimately relies on the absence of context. In order to protect the imagined moral hierarchies upon which the idea of ‘democracy promotion’ so fundamentally depends, ‘democracy promotion’ is thus shown to operate via different processes of depoliticisation, technocratisation and decontextualisation. Followed by a discussion of the conceptual dominance of procedural democracy in both ‘democracy promotion’ research and practice, it discusses select policy-oriented and more critical studies of ‘democracy promotion’. The book’s approach is described as both practice-oriented and combining a focus on material and ideational factors. Finally, it provides a brief overview of select US and European ‘democracy promotion’ organisations active in Jordan, describes the book’s methodology and sources, and outlines the key arguments of the different chapters.