ABSTRACT
This chapter maps out the conceptual toolkit with which to make sense of the trajectory of democracy and its promotion in international relations. Democracy promotion's trajectory is characterised by an intriguing displacement of democracy from an institution-centric understanding, in which the focus was on elections and representative government structures. It shows how Cartesian anxiety as well as pragmatist post-Cartesianism are experiencing a revival and reworking in contemporary complexity thinking. It links the two ontologies of power, as well as pragmatist notions of democracy, to the rise of complexity thinking and theories. For the purpose of drawing out the two ontologies of power constituted power and relational power the work on governing rationalities, especially those revolving around biopower, conducted by Foucault is illuminating. In order to facilitate this project of tracing international democracy promotion in ways which are not immediately obvious, this chapter has sketched out three conceptual milestones at the intersection between knowledge and governing.
