Contents -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction: Pious Discourses of Democracy -- Structure of the book -- Conclusion -- Chapter 1 - Complexity Theory and Democratic Politics -- Complexity Theory and the Challenge for Democracy -- Complexity and Post-structuralism -- Conclusion: Complexity and Conflict -- Notes -- Chapter 2 - Complexity, Democratisation and Conflict -- Discourses of Democratisation -- Complexity, Iraq and the War on Terror -- Emergent Properties in Northern Ireland: A Self-Referential System? -- Complexity, Post-structuralism and Conflict -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Chapter 3 - Democracy, Consensus and Dissent -- Liberal Democracy and the Pursuit of Consensus -- Disagreement, Conflict and Justice -- A Radical Politics of Disagreement -- Democracy, Ethics and Disagreement -- Conclusion: Rethinking Democracy and Consensus -- Notes -- Chapter 4 - Democracy and Violence -- Theorising Democracy and Violence -- Rethinking the Relationship Between Democracy and Violence -- Overcoming Violence? Vulnerability and Mourning -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Chapter 5 - Terrorism, Violence and the Ethics of Democracy -- Democracy and Terrorism -- The Contingency of the Rule of Law -- The Retreat from Democratic Ethics and the Irony of the 'War on Terror' -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Conclusion: The Constitutive Failure of Democracy -- Politics and the Significance of Political Language -- Rejecting or Radicalising Democracy? -- Conclusion: The 'Constitutive Failure' of Democracy -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index.