Exporting Imperial Democracy: Critical Reflections on the US Case

David Slater
Department of Geography
Loughborough University

My argument in this paper is that the US-led export of democracy can only be fully understood and challenged when situated in the context of the dynamics of imperial power. After outlining the main components of the  imperial relation, namely, invasiveness, imposition and a lack of socio-cultural and political  recognition of the imperialised society, I suggest that democracy is used as a mode of legitimization for the spreading of US power. This leads me into a discussion of the limits of Westocentric perspectives on democratic politics, set in the framework of international relations. The paper is concluded with some observations on alternative ways of doing democracy – on the need for ‘demo-diversity’ and a greater pluralization of our discussions of the democratic.