The Imperial Discourse. The Liberal World-View Between Global Governance and Neo-Conservatism

This book sets out to critique the conflictive approach of Western universalism. It uncovers exclusionary processes within liberal theory and shows how these theoretical constructs justify practices of exclusion in liberal policies. The effects of this are twofold: it motivates and justifies militant actions against non-democratic opponents and it instigates security concerns on both sides. The consequences of this are enhanced interventionism and the magnification of the security dilemma, which increase the long-term risk of violent conflict. In opposition to the untenability of liberal a priori claims of universalization, the critique arrives at the proposition that a normative framework for global governance can, in fact, be reached by way of discursive practices, the prospects of which may enjoy – empirical, not postulated – universal validity.